The Marquis de Sade and the Avant-Garde

How the notorious author of The 120 Days of Sodom inspired the surrealists and other avant-garde artists, writers, and filmmakers.

The writings of the Marquis de Sade (1740-1814) present a libertine philosophy of sexual excess and human suffering that refuses to make any concession to law, religion, or public decency. In this groundbreaking cultural history, Alyce Mahon traces how artists of the twentieth century turned to Sade to explore political, sexual, and psychological terror, adapting his imagery of the excessively sexual and terrorised body as a means of liberation from systems of power.

Mahon shows how avant-garde artists, writers, dramatists, and filmmakers drew on Sade's 'philosophy in the bedroom' to challenge oppressive regimes and their restrictive codes and conventions of gender and sexuality. She provides close analyses of early illustrated editions of Sade's works and looks at drawings, paintings, and photographs by leading surrealists such as Andre Masson, Leonor Fini, and Man Ray. She explains how Sade's ideas were reflected in the writings of Guillaume Apollinaire and the fiction of Anne Desclos, who wrote her erotic novel, Story of O, as a love letter to critic Jean Paulhan, an admirer of Sade. Mahon explores how Sade influenced the happenings of Jean-Jacques Lebel, the theatre of Peter Brook, the cinema of Pier Paolo Pasolini, and the multimedia art of Paul Chan. She also discusses responses to Sade by feminist theorists such as Simone de Beauvoir, Susan Sontag, and Angela Carter.

Beautifully illustrated, The Marquis de Sade and the Avant-Garde demonstrates that Sade inspired generations of artists to imagine new utopian visions of living, push the boundaries of the body and the body politic, and portray the unthinkable in their art.

The Marquis de Sade and the Avant-Garde is a book that is a treasure house of information and inspiration, at the same time scholarly and completely engaging... An important work to add to your bookshelf; it will fascinate you, it will inspire you, and it will delight you. — Penelope Rosemont, Rain Taxi Review of Books

Perceptive. — Allan Graubard, Leonardo Reviews

[A] remarkable new book... In this deeply researched study, Mahon moves gracefully from a thorough exposition and analysis of Sade's life and work to his many critics.... She leaves her readers with the urgent reflection that Sade's function has unceasingly been to provoke an assessment of life's value. This is a timely and important book and should be widely read. — Katharine Conley, French Forum

A beautifully written and meticulously researched defense of another kind. Mahon deftly narrates the history of Sade the person as well as what she calls the "Sadean imagination"... Mahon's study of Sade and defense of his texts as central to the legacies of the avant-garde are, no doubt, well-argued and deeply researched, and they make for a compelling read; the book is a significant and important contribution. — Angelique Szymanek, CAA Reviews