The fun-loving dude who gave his name to the word ‘Sadist’ which is, as we all know, a person who derives pleasure, especially sexual gratification, from inflicting pain, suffering or humiliation on others. His name was Donatien Alphonse Francois, compte de Sade, known as the Marquis de Sade (1740 – 1814). A soldier and writer in 18th century France, he had his career interrupted by long periods of imprisonment for cruelty and debauchery. While in prison he wrote several sexually explicit works which explored the darker side of sexuality. He was born in Paris in 1740 to a noble family and fought in the French army during the Seven Years’ War. In 1772 he was tried and sentenced to death for a series of sexual crimes. He escaped to Italy, but on his return to Paris in 1777 he was arrested and imprisoned at Vincennes. After six years at Vincennes he was removed to the Bastille and in 1789 to the Charenton lunatic asylum. He was released from the asylum in 1790 but arrested again in 1801. For the rest of his life he was moved from prison to prison and in 1803 again incarcerated at Charenton, where he died. In many of his writings, which include The Story of Juliette (6 volumes, 1797) and The Bedroom Philosophers (1795), de Sade described in great detail some of the extreme and sometimes cruel sexual activities that he himself practiced. Other than his writing, his main claim to fame is that the term sadism, originally used by psychiatrists to denote what they considered a ‘neurosis’ wherein sexual satisfaction is gained by the infliction of pain on others, is derived from his name. In de Sade’s philosophy, both criminal and sexually deviant acts are regarded as natural. His works were condemned as obscene and their publication was banned well into the 20th century. They are more freely available now, so you can decide for yourself whether de Sade was a persecuted surrealist long before the term was fashionable or just cruel and crazy.
He Said ….
“in order to know virtue, we must first acquaint ourselves with vice”.
“What does one want when one is engaged in the sexual act? That everything around give you its utter attention, think only of you, care only for you…every man wants to be a tyrant when he fornicates.”
“No kind of sensation is keener and more active than that of pain; its impressions are unmistakable.”
His writing includes:
Justine – 1791
Juliette – 1798
The 120 Days of Sodom – 1785
Aline and Valcour – 1795
Philosophy in the Boudoir – 1795
Crimes of Love – 1800
Coleen is a writer, photographer and film maker at Wasteland and Sssh.com.
Here at BDSMCafe.com, she is editor and curator of this comprehensive library of BDSM fiction, informational articles and other educational features that date back to the early days of the internet in 1996 when the site was first launched.
