Books by Marqués de Sade

Philosophy in the Bedroom (La philosophie dans le boudoir) was written in 1795 by the Marquis de Sade, while imprisoned in the Bastille. It is a work of extreme pornography, laced with socio-political suversion. The main characters are libertines, who decided to give a young maiden their own brand of sex education. They explain to her that pleasure is the most important goal of all, and then proceed with affirming that she will not be able to feel "true pleasure" without pain. Then they get down to the practical lessons. This book is full of extremely graphic and shocking descriptions, willfully obscene and violent to the reader; it is also an argument in favour of libertinism, with a demonstration on how it is the only way of thinking reinforcing the recent French Revolution, and that if it fails to penetrate the people of France, they are in grave danger of returning to a monarchic state.

Justine, or The Misfortunes of Virtue, is an early work by the Marquis de Sade. It is a novella, written in two weeks while he was imprisoned in the Bastille. Unlike some of his other works, it is not just a catalogue of sadism. It is meant to bring new life to an old genre, which had the reader accustomed to see virtue eventually triumph after trials only meant to bring out its value. Sade would have none of that in Justine: in her quest for virtue, the main character keeps falling into terrible situations, which humiliate her and present her with sexual lessons hidden under the mask of virtue. She seeks refuge and confession in a monastery, only to discover the monks are perverts and to be forced to become their sex-slave; she tries to help a gentleman getting robbed in a field, but he eventually imprisons her in his dungeon, subjugating her to various sexual punishments... All of this is narrated by Justine herself, on her way to the gallocks. Napoleon Bonaparte ordered the arrest of the anonymous author of Justine and Juliette, and as a result Sade was incarcerated for the last 13 years of his life. The book's destruction was ordered by the Cour Royale de Paris on May 19, 1815.

The 120 Days of Sodom is "the most impure tale that has ever been told since our world began". It was written by the Marquis de Sade, in the space of 37 days, while imprisoned in the Bastille. Fearing confiscation, he had to write it on a continuous roll of paper, made up of small pieces glued together, and to hide it inside a dildo. The original manuscript is now on display in Paris, and is the third most expensive kept in France, insured for 12 million euros. Four unbelievably wealthy aristocrats lock themselves in a remote medieval castle, along with forty-two victims and accomplices. Ensues the often unbearable description of six hundred perversions, often applied to a victim while the narrator speaks; tales of torture, anal rape, coprophilia, paedophilia, in an obscene gradation that culminates in slaughter. This unfinished novel is a testimony to how dark the human soul can become when pushed to its limits; it transcends pornography, and no reader can emerge from it unscathed.

Considerada originalmente como una novela pornográfica, La filosofía en el tocador ha sido también interpretada como una obra de comentario socio-político. Marqués de Sade narra la historia de una niña de quince años que a petición de su padre, es instruida por partidarios del libertinaje en cómo perder todas las enseñanzas provenientes de la virtud. De Sade critica en este texto a la postura de los franceses post-monárquicos frente a la religión y la moralidad, postulando que si no se pierden estos elementos innecesarios y dañinos hacia la condición humana, Francia caerá nuevamente en las manos de la monarquía.Atrévete a escuchar esta escalofriante novela escrita por el filósofo francés en el cual se origina la palabra sadismo.El Marqués de Sade era un miembro de la nobleza francesa, político, filósofo y escritor. Muchos de los textos atribuidos a él fueron publicados en anonimato, e incluyen novelas, cuentos cortos, diálogos y obras de teatro. Su estilo se caracterizaba por desarrollar pláticas filosóficas y socio-políticas a través de la pornografía, y sus tramas generalmente incluían violencia, tortura, actos criminales y blasfemias hacia el cristianismo. De Sade proclamaba ser un partidario del libertinaje, una filosofía descrita como hedonismo extremo, en que nada en la vida tiene valor si no se puede utilizar para brindar placer, aun cuando se pongan en riesgo la moralidad y la sociedad.