Marquis de Sade in popular culture

Depiction of the Marquis de Sade by H. Biberstein in L'Œuvre du marquis de Sade, Guillaume Appolinaire (Edit.), Bibliothèque des Curieux, Paris, 1912

There have been many and varied references to the Marquis de Sade in popular culture, including fictional works, biographies and more minor references. The namesake of the psychological and subcultural term sadism, his name is used variously to evoke sexual violence, licentiousness and freedom of speech.[1] In modern culture his works are simultaneously viewed as masterful analyses of how power and economics work, and as erotica.[2] Sade's sexually explicit works were a medium for the articulation of the corrupt and hypocritical values of the elite in his society, which caused him to become imprisoned. He thus became a symbol of the artist's struggle with the censor. Sade's use of pornographic devices to create provocative works that subvert the prevailing moral values of his time inspired many other artists in a variety of media. The cruelties depicted in his works gave rise to the concept of sadism. Sade's works have to this day been kept alive by artists and intellectuals because they espouse a philosophy of extreme individualism that became reality in the economic liberalism of the following centuries.[3]

There has been a resurgence of interest in Sade in the past fifty years. Leading French intellectuals like Roland Barthes, Jacques Derrida and Michel Foucault have published studies of Sade. There has been continuing interest in Sade by scholars and artists in recent years.[1]

Plays

Films

Visual representations of Sade in film first began to appear during the surrealist period.[5] While there are numerous pornographic films based on his themes, the following is a list of the more significant representations:

In art

Many surrealist artists had great interest in the Marquis de Sade. The first Manifesto of Surrealism (1924) announced that "Sade is surrealist in sadism." Guillaume Apollinaire found rare manuscripts by Sade in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. He published a selection of his writings in 1909, where he introduced Sade as "the freest spirit that had ever lived." Sade was celebrated in surrealist periodicals. In 1926 Paul Éluard wrote of Sade as a "fantastique" and "revolutionary." Maurice Heine pieced together Sade's manuscripts from libraries and museums in Europe and published them between 1926 and 1935. Extracts of the original draft of Justine were published in Le Surréalisme au service de la révolution.[5]

The surrealist artist Man Ray admired Sade because he and other surrealists viewed him as an ideal of freedom.[3] According to Ray, Heine brought the original 1785 manuscript of 120 Days of Sodom to his studio to be photographed. An image by Man Ray entitled Monument à D.A.F. de Sade appeared in Le Surréalisme au service de la révolution.[5]

Other works

References

  1. 1 2 Phillips, John, 2005, The Marquis De Sade: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-280469-3.
  2. Guins, Raiford, and Cruz, Omayra Zaragoza, 2005, Popular Culture: A Reader, Sage Publications, ISBN 0-7619-7472-5.
  3. 1 2 3 4 MacNair, Brian, 2002, Striptease Culture: Sex, Media and the Democratization of Desire, Routledge, ISBN 0-415-23733-5.
  4. 1 2 Dancyger, Ken, 2002, The Technique of Film and Video Editing: History, Theory, and Practice, Focal Press, ISBN 0-240-80225-X.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Bate, David, 2004, Photography and Surrealism: Sexuality, Colonialism and Social Dissent, I.B. Tauris, ISBN 1-86064-379-5.
  6. Raengo, Alessandra, and Stam, Robert, 2005, Literature and Film: A Guide to the Theory and Practice of Film Adaptation, Blackwell, ISBN 0-631-23055-6.
  7. Daughter of Fortune By Isabel Allende. p. 90 Google books
  8. Istvan Csicsery-Ronay, Jr. (1986). "Twenty-Two Answers and Two Postscripts: An Interview with Stanisław Lem". DePauw University.
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