Sadean Libertinage and the Esthetics of Violence Author(s): Lucienne Frappier-Mazur Reviewed work(s): Source: Yale French Studies,

No. 94, Libertinage and Modernity (1998), pp. 184-198 Published by: Yale University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3040705 . Accessed: 09/05/2012 07:04
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SadeanLibertinage the and Esthetics Violence of

Constance? Have I succeeded, Willa tearfrom eyedetermine thy my After readJustine, say: "Oh, howthese triumph? having wilt renderings crime of makeme proud mylovefor of virtue! How sublimedoes it appear through tears!How 'tis embellished by misfortunes!" Constance! Oh, Maythesewords escapethylips, but andmylaborsshallbe crowned. ou -From the"Dedication"to Justine les malheurs la vertu de

it Ifeighteenth-century is libertinage an artde vivre, impliesan ethics In it in thatis also an estheticism. other words, anchorsesthetics an choice. And leaningon reason,free-thinking, mateand existential it betweentherealmofknowledge and rialism, does not distinguish thatofvalues.Let us propose theoutset, at thattheaxiological then, moveorestheticism, content inducesan esthetic whichdemonstrates a subjective and to positioning thusdrawsattention the level ofthe thisestheticism enunciation. ascribes thetextoffiction to an Further, that textual of esthetic function maydetermine strategies estheticization. is of and moreprobNowhere thefusion values,knowledge, beauty lematicthanin Sade'sfiction, whichcarries power the relation inherent in eroticconquestto extreme formsof physicalviolence,and the It whosenarration attacks reader several on fronts. couldbe argued of a thatthenecessity violenceconstitutes qualitative leap in-relation erotic to the majority eighteenth-century and pornographic of writof of ings.Andyet, conceiving violenceas thelogicalconsequence a by libertine to way of life,Sadean discourseprofesses take eighteenthmaterialism its logicalconclusion. uses the materialist to It century torture murder. rationalizes and It oflibertinage justify to philosophy theassociationofsex and terror, the of adducing jadedsensitivity the in who must resortto evercruelerinventions orderto libertines, far one'sardor, arousethemselves dampening pavesthe ("Satiety, from
YFS 94,Libertinage Modernity, Catherine and ed. Cusset,? 1998byYale University.

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And eventhoughorgasm wayforeven morebalefulrefinements.")' marksthe end of the orgyscene,it is not at all certainthatsexual satisfaction the represents ultimategoal. find Indeed, libertines their the greatest pleasurein their flights of the the imagination, in appropriating other and through infliction of pain.Froma metalinguistic perspective, first the pointhighlights the thatanyform fictitious statusoftheaction.It goeswithout saying of of in constitutes taming violence.What a representation, andofitself, is to Sadeanfiction stillremains be examined howandto whatextent dividedhis worksbetweenthose achievesthis taming.Sade himself thatusedgazage,theveileddepiction sexandviolenceunder of stories reintoextremes language of and decent and terms, thosethatgavefree in theirdifferences vocabulary, each groupdeeroticfantasy. Beyond the voiceis velopsopposite pointsofview:in thefirst group, narrative in on thesideofthemostconventional it virtue; thesecond, embraces evilabsolutely. former often marred an abunThe group, although by dance of pious protest that seems to culminatein the first partof Histoiresecreted'Isabelle de Baviere,also includessome of Sade's ou mostremarkable achievements: amongthemJustine les malheurs de la vertu(the second Justine, whose decencyis admittedly quite relative), storiesfromLes crimesde 1'amour, and La Marquise de in but of Ganges.Strategies estheticization prevail thisgroup, arefar them unexpected in from absent the whichexploits from secondgroup, the relation best ways.This secondgroup, however, displays intricate of violenceand estheticism, and, as such,is the moretypicalof its author. Whenestheticization conspicuous, demonstratesnormative is it a in and moralconventions. intent, conformity generic with Quite ofestheticism twistsand ten,however, libertine givesriseto interesting It in deviations from its manifestation thosenorms. finds mostnotable of concern at times thesublime.Finally, presence anyesthetic the is and it to difficult detect, thequestionariseswhether is even painfully in to appropriate speakofa Sadeanesthetics such cases.

Philosophy the in de in Justine, 1. D.A.F. de Sade,Eugenie Franval, The Complete Wainhouse (NewYork: trans. Richard Seaver Austryn and Bedroom OtherWritings, and in in references be indicated parentheses thetext will as Grove Press, 376. Future 1965), from French mineunlessotherwise the are EdF. Throughout, translations indicated; I modified it. translation,haveoccasionally where used an existing I English

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Polishedlanguage, conventional metaphors, preterition a few and are oftherhetorical devicesthatinvert praiseofcrimeintoits moral the the whilefacilitating enumeration acts ofviolence: of denunciation,
But shouldhis deathhave been accompanied such ferociousness? by havebeendeprived sleepin order of to Shouldthisunfortunate prince keep the imageofhis crimesalive in his eyes?Shouldhe have been withvictualsonlyto havethemremoved his presented from graspas forced him to attempt seize them?2 to hunger

What arousespraisein Julietteis condemned in such cases: Queen of the Isabelleoccasionally roamsthestreets Paris"under viledisguise en nation that she would slaughter masse afterward" (Isabelle de Baviere,229). Isabelle de Baviereis Sade's last novel: until the end, a and thiskindofsugarcoating, whichproduces leveling effect drowns a violencein its moralcondemnation, characterizes vast portionof A mode of estheticization, virtuous the Sade's fiction. rudimentary The forms estheticization. eternal of of that present pornography perscenealso infiltrates of vadesthe Sadean orgy stretches dialoguesdeof votedto thedepiction pastorfuture of events. This type dialoguein the thepresent tenseconveys muchoftheplot,accelerates narrative, and intensifies dreamlike its unfolding:
Mydearandloving Eug6nie, mustdecide:youcankeeponlyoneof you us. Necessarily parricide, only the choice of whichheartyou shall choose as the target yourdagger remains. of Either yet yourmother or mustperish, else youmustgiveme up.... Whatam I saying? You will have to slitmythroat. [EdF, 433] counting,as well as ofthe mechanistic conception that underpinsthe gloss hardlyconstitutes Sade's most original contribution. Sade's treatmentof temporarility providesmuch more noteworthy ofa prostitute.... Thus did thatperversewoman degradeone by one a

effect atemporality also a function Sade'suse of of is of The general

violenceof his text.Much has been written about Sade's obsession of withnumbers, whichthe orderly, arithmetical of progression The the 120 Days represents culmination earlyon. It is not the linear, historical timeofa narrative thread thatgoverns juxtaposition the of but numerical in order cruclassification increasing of episodes, their
1953).

2. Sade,Histoire secrete d'Isabelle de Bavikre, reinede France(Paris:Gallimard,

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elty.No doubt,whatever the arcana of the Sadean psyche or the reader's reactions, carethatpresided the overtheconstruction The of 120 Days is a testament itscreator's to esthetic ambition. for As Sade's conceptof the human machine,it tends,if not to stop,at least to context thosepower of domesticate time.It can be placedin thelarger defined an anatomo-politics thehuman as procedures Foucault that of to started develop the to in body, procedures that, according Foucault, seventeenth century.3 Transposed intothesado-erotic imaginary, this new anatomo-politics offers limitlessresources the infliction for of It the for torture. substitutes foreseeable thevicissitudes timeand of on destruction thevictims. of imposesan idealofregularity thebodily in and Thereis nothing haphazard Sadeantorture, no doubtitsrhytha mical progress, thatofthe orgy like scene,constitutes mode ofesalbeita dysphoric one: theticization, was anThevictim, bound around wheel this which enclosed within wheelfurnished steelteeth, torn, sheturned with was as over other in a spring these fixed and the teeth, detail inevery direction; brought wheel wheel so fixed down upontheindividual bound theturning to as close that, theteeth chewed through massofflesh, might the they down to further andfind something bite upon.4 The numerouseffects specularity of thatrunthrough Sade's ficlineartime. The orgy tion also take much of the actionawayfrom mirror each other. the scene and its program Constituting narrative and of kernel The 120 Days ofSodom,TheNew Justine, The Story of a within theatrical Juliette, situatetheviolent they performance space time.Indeed,simulation a favorite is contrivance of and a suspended numerous such as thatoftheinsane theagentsand governs episodes, in for asylumin Juliette, which the inmatestake themselves God, and One ofthewomen soonsizing Jesus, theVirgin Mary. libertines, up the possibilities the situation, of proposesto imitatethoselunatics mimictheactionsofthisnewTrinity: who themselves and "Thissight arouses me,"shesaid;"doas I do,myfriends, as for and us have you, scoundrel, your jailers strip naked, lockus upinthe we we cages: pretend tooaremadwomen, willimitate them; will you has have tied onthe us cross the that nospikes, lunatics on side up your willwhip andfuck assesafterwards." emphasis] our us [My
3. MichelFoucault, History Sexuality, Introduction The of An (NewYork: Vintage Books,1980), vol. 1, 139. 4. Sade,Juliette, 334. trans. Austryn Wainhouse (NewYork:GrovePress,1968),

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The humorous precision a ("on thesidethathas no spikes")preserves of the margin difference within mirror game,a distancethatsuggests his side whileplacing perverse in theservice his invention, of the that, them. writer does notconfuse ESTHETICISM AND THE ESTHETICS OF VIOLENCE of Sadeanhumor, is it however, nota strategy estheticization, although devices. maylean on a number rhetorical of Rather, belongs it withthe thatdefines existential, subjective positioning estheticism. is, in It manifestations. Humorplayfully fact,one of its most idiosyncratic truths modesofreasoning. establishes or It deniescommonly accepted a distance the of between subject theenunciation thesubject the and of a enunciated, processthat,in the case ofSade,maybe relatedto the novel oscillatesbetweentwo options, libertine genre.The libertine it of according whether positsor not thetransgression moralconto the of sciousness:thisentailseither obscenerepresentation thebody, or thefiction innocence.5 of Sade mixesthesetwopointsofview.He but and asserts of innocence, basedon theuniversality crime, he actuthe of alizes transgression through obscenity his language.He thus of whichneedsthejustificaexposestheduplicity thelibertine model, in to the of tionsofdiscourse order maintain fiction innocence.Preto tending be unawareofthedemandsofconscienceor conventions, breach withtheutmost naturalness outsideof and Sade depictsevery in and "the anycredibility, thisushers humor: "Yes,"saidtheminister, The onlycountries enjoy to laws shouldbe moresevere. happy governmentarethoseruledbytheInquisition" 315); (Juliette, "Ifone wereto a it runawayeach timeone commits crime, wouldbe impossible to settledownanywhere" 857). (Juliette, blackwhenassociated Humorturns withviolence.OfSadeanblack Breton notedmostly parody thegothic the has of Andre humor, novel, thosepassagesof "ostentatious whichshow thatthe auextremes," thoris "no dupe,"6and he cites the banquetofMinski the giantin backsareusedas tablesandtheir at as Juliette, whichwomen's vaginas Thistype humor of an candleholders doesoccupy impor584). (Juliette, tantplace,butthere moretobe saidaboutblackhumor. pretense is The of innocenceremainsa requirement the division of the subbut
5. Claude Reichler, representation corpsdans le recitlibertine" Eros "La in du philosophe, Frangois ed. Moureau Alain-Marc and Rieu(Paris: 73-82. Champion, 1984), 6. Andr6 Breton, Anthologie 1'humour (Paris: de noir Pauvert, 1966).

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jectnowtakesplacethrough intervention thesadisticsuperego, the of the whichperforms exclusion theother. theclimactic of In sceneduringwhichNoirceuilandJuliette execute their respective children, this shortsentence:"Marianneis roasted,"tells the demiseof Juliette's a old daughter, seven-year childwhom Noirceuiland Juliette throw intothefire. phrasing quitepossibly The will makethereader smile.It is no doubta touchofhumor: Likehim, take an iron tobeatback natural I up bar the movements of herself theunfortunate whoconvulsively andthrows child, leaps towards weareboth we Marianne roasted.... is us; frigged, arebuggered;
so She is consumed. Noirceuildischarges, do I. [Juliette, 1186)

exBataillehas analyzedSadeanlaughter relating by anality (physical a parallelsupported cretion) adultlaughter and excretion), (ideological that"shitcan be characterized thehilarity provokes"7: it bythefact by foreign body, smallchicken, Marianne raisesa insignificant excretion, This kindofcomplex is laughofexclusion. staging themostextreme, hencethemostrepresentative, ofSadeanhumor. vein violencefor as Sade is an esthetic wellas a moralvalue.He Clearly, makesthisclearin Idee surles romans(Reflections theNovel,the on preface Les crimesde Plamour). to Written toward end ofhis life, the and justify practice.The best his this text attemptsto formulate are of novels, writes, thosethatmakeus weepoverthedefeat virtue he and push passionsand vices to the limit.Theyrequirecreativity as on the well as experience the partofthe novelist, who mustfathom and its of of depths thehumanheart imagine extremes turpitude. They in the shouldstirthewhole gamutofemotions thereader, including and even terror. Nowhereis this estheticsbetter shock of surprise fromeroticism, illustrated than when Sadean violence,inseparable in of culminates theeffect sublime. Violencedoes not simplysustainthe sublime.Thereare also severalpointsofconvergence between two.The sublimeis a moralas the value:so is violence, leastfor at Sade.Andas values, wellas an esthetic bothare subjectiveexperiences thatmaynot be sharedby each and and The everyone.8 sublimehingeson energy thepassageto thelimit: of so does violence.It conjures awesomeness thelaw (thefiatlux). the
Bataille,"La valeurd'usagede D.A.F. de Sade,"in Oeuvrescompltes 7. Georges vol. 2, 71. (Paris:Gallimard, 1970), de lit"Le Larrive, sublimedans l'esth6tique Kant,"Revued'histoire 8. Paulette t6raire la France(RHLF)86/1(1986):85. de

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In Sade, this divinelaw is recastinto the law of nature(whichhis in in best libertines, however, glory surpassing), manifested thebreakingloose ofinstinctual drives pulsions.9 a result, sublime, or As the of Michel Delon like violence,forces boundaries imagination.10 the of has shownthekinship Sade's sublimewithDiderot's(pointing out, in directs its however, thattheydiffer as muchas Sadean libertinage creations solelytoward evil and destruction): "The sublime,"Delon whatexcludes writes aboutDiderot's Salon de 1767,"is nolonger man, of thisformidable energy natureto whichhe does nothave access. It in becomestheproperty man,who himself of becomesa creator the imageofnature."'1 This marks meeting the withhubrisoftheSadean of whowillingly libertine, usurpsthedestructive powers nature' and the Let prides himself managing passionshe unleashes. us notethat on the crucialrole ofthe imagination the thirst knowledge and for and of Sadean eroticism a powerthatgovern provide peculiarillustration Kant's conceptionof the sublime,whichbindstogether reasonand imagination. According Kant,imagination to relatesthe sublimeto thefaculty knowing of of sublime")andto thefaculty ("mathematical in sublime" 13 bothofwhichareunited theSadean desiring ("dynamic ), brandofviolence.To summarize, we then, can saythatdesireand its of the and flights imagination, will-to-power, the blendoferoticism and terror, the of pushedto thelimit,provide ingredients Sadean estheticism ofthe Sadeansublime. and to It is necessary, however, distinguish betweenSade's conception ofthesublime(orthatofhis libertines), whathis fiction and actually of achieves. That Sade seekstheeffect sublimeis obvious,as testified to "Whatyouoffer is fair. me WhatI byhisfrequent resorting theterm: sentence statesthe invent sublime"(Juliette, This oft-quoted is 522). and and desireoverperformance is an apt primacy imagination of
De 9. MichelDelon develops thesepointsin "Le sublimeet l'id6e d'6nergie. la " Revued'histoire th6ologie materialisme, au litteraire la France(RHLF)86/1(1986): de 62-70; andin "La beaut6du crime," Europe661 (May1984):73-83. Delon also points becomesthemodelofesthetic pleasure. Similarly, out thatfor Dideroterotic pleasure theviolenceofSadeaneroticism underpins esthetics Sade'sfiction. the of 10. This is Kant'sdefinition. Larrive, 110. See 79; 98. 11. Delon, "Le sublimeet l'id6ed'6nergie," 68-69. See Justine, 12. "Can [Nature], whenshecreated haveplacedinus whatwouldbe capableof us, in consort withthesublimeandsuremanner hurting Can thatidioticsupposition her? Ah!Were murder oneofthehumanactions not which whichwe see herattain ends? her the May then bestfulfilled intentions, her wouldshepermit doing murder? toimitate of be to injure her?"(Justine, myitalics). 520; 13. See Larrive, sublime "Le dansl'esthetique Kant,"79. de

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reminder thefictitious of statusofJuliette's universe terror. of Accordingto the"Dedication"ofJustine les malheurs la vertu ou de (see the in virtue distress, epigraph thisessay), to shining through tearsof the thepersecuted heroine, mostlikelyto create sublimeand make is the the readercry:here Sade seems to conflate pathoswiththis tearful the from sublime.Conversely, pronouncement Juliette ascribessubof These twoforms limity thesadisticinventions thelibertines. to of of and sublimeroughly correspond thetwotypes Sadeanfiction itis to theirdifferences possibleoverlapping I shall now briefly and that examine. AlthoughJustine's "Dedication" is perhapsnot devoidof irony it it reader historical a considering story heralds, raisesfor the today's question,that of the tearful response.It is certainthat eighteenthto century -readers expectedand wereexpected weep,and did weep, whenthey read.It is no less certain thatour weremovedbywhatthey responseis oftenquite different. is why,even allowingforthe This possibleironyof the "Dedication,"we mightstill wonderwhether is Constance(to whom,we recall,Justine dedicated) was not indeed Justine.14 to there expected shed a fewtearswhenreading Moreover, the areother works Sade in whichhe adoptsorpastiches sentimenby so that tal,moralpointofviewofthenovelofterror consistently such from their almostindistinguishable worksbecome models,in whole (La Marquise de Ganges)or in parts(Les crimesde 1'amour).15These as texts maywell havemovedsome ames sensibles.Theyqualify suba of victimlimebecausetheir pathosis staged against backdrop terror, forcesof ization,and, ultimately, helplessnessagainstthe superior one ofthemostremarkGod or nature. Thus,in Eugeniede Franval, able storiesin Les crimesde 1amour,although Eugenieis "boththe horror the wonderofnature"(EdeF,378),a portrayal might that and the openthewayto a sublimeofterror, moralpointofviewadopted by the thenarrative voiceprevents exploitation thisvein.Pathosgovof ernsmost of the otherexamplesof sublimein Eugeniede Franval, the thatbefallsFranval, murderous along with a series of disasters and husbandand incestuousfather, culminateswith his takinghis
14. The fouroccurrences "sublime"in Justine les malheursde la vertu, of ou however, notsupport view:they do this refer thepower thedeity; thatofnature to of to viewthat (quotedin n. 12 andpointing Sade'sesthetic to to preference); themistaken manhas ofhimself; to Justine's and "sublimederriere." 15. "Almost"refers the accumulation betrayals, to of villainouspriests, inand to cests,noneofwhichhowever, foreign theGothicnovel. are

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soften terror withsorrow such an extent to own life.These disasters that, leastfor presentday at a reader, they maybearsomeparodicconnotations: his as he holding hissword, directs steps best canaway onto he from
Valmor. . . "Ill-fated . thisbaneful place,andtoward man,"he criesout, "all conspires finally crushme . . to make me feelthe pangsof to remorse!" (EdeF,437-38] was seemedto The weather thatnight miserable.... All theelements be unleashedagainstthe wretched Franval.... Half-naked, still but

Franval encounters wife's his funeral procession, sight a thatcan only impress himthethought God's wrath: on of the Thepalelight several of torches suddenly dissipates shadows, lenda of that sensitive (acmes the souls ing scene tinge horror only sensibles) and The willunderstand. thunder lightning.... sinister Bells, flame of the betokens torches, everything rise horror, gives to everything desolation. seems be theeternal It to of mourningnature. [EdeF, 443] a OnlythesceneofFranval's self-punishment approaches moreexorbitearshis wife'sbodyout ofthecoffin: tantform sublime.Franval of of He pullsoutthesadremains thewoman hadso grievously he ofin he the it foot fended, holds body hisarms, places atthe ofa tree and,
of himself it in a delirium despair:. . . "You wantblood, on throwing to sweetwife,you need it in order be avenged.... And avenged you his shall be.. . ." Franval plungeshis swordtwicethrough body;his

and tainted blood on to her more pours tohisvictim seems defile much than her. avenge [EdeF, 444] thatis, the This denouement eschewsthe conventional conclusion, and a In of possibility forgiveness, reaches kindofgrandeur. thissense, it returns to the othersublime,the one envisionedby most as us Sadean. genuinely To what extentdoes Sade achievethis othersublime,which he to names,whose presencehe claims,and according which it is the and libertine who is the demiurge?16 (theartist), not God or nature, This is notan easyquestionto address, the character given subjective in and oftheexperience, changes today's the reading expectations, the To the stylistic motleyof Sade's writing. formulate questionmore to whatdomainsofexcessbecomeconducive thesublime? precisely,
16. Delon, "Le sublimeet l'id6ed'6nergie, 68-69: "The sublimefallswithin the in a domainofman,whobecomesa creator Nature's image .... The artist, creator, the veritable demiurge."

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The choiceofVesuvius Juliette Clairwill, by and whenthey decideto immolateOlympia,is emblematic theirboastedsuperiority of over in natureand providesa setting keepingwiththe enormousness of theiraction.Elements sublimeareindeedpresentof menacing scenery: We with interest the into throat this of volcano gazed prodigious which, in itsmoments wrath, of all makes theKingom Naplestremble; of
[Juliette, 1016]

awesomecrime: Downshewent the and several into volcano, for minutes listened we to thesounds her of body crashing ledge ledge, from to being bythe torn sharp outcropping gradually sounds rocks: the subsided, then and we

heardnothing more;[Juliette, 1017]

rivalry withnature: our through deedwe were insulting Nature, defying baiting her, her; andtriumphanttheimpunity which unconcern us,we in in her left her to more to her sought profit from indulgence inorder irritate only

101 moregrievously. [Juliette, 7-18]

But the dissonancesofthe textcheckthe effect sublime:obscene of thesequotations. Neverthedialogueand lewd scenesoccurbetween a the less, we may still decidethatthisrepresents peculiarversion, of and from the Sadeanversion, thesublimeofterror, viewitsdeviation normas themostdaring moveofthesublime. In many episodes,however, loftiness the settingis sumthe of moned only in orderto be deflated. case in point concernsJuA in liette'sexploits SaintPeterofRome,an episodethatrevealsSade's anticlericalism its mostgleeful. at The order adoptedforthe successive ceremonies to of would suffice negateany possibility sublime, since the orgiesoccurbefore tortures the include and,furthermore, inventions thattake on caricatural overtones. The "susacrilegious for behinds perbaltar"ofSaintPeteris offset the "sparkling by ready use as holy stones" of six naked choir-boys 801), and Ju(Juliette, liette'ssacrilegious jubilationsoundsquite farcical:"Sodomizedby the Pope,the bodyofJesus-Christ nestedin my ass, oh, myfriends! Whatraredelight" of (Juliette, 802).The accumulation burlesquederemoves tails, obscenities,and obsessivenumericalspecifications, of any sense ofthe sublimethatcould be evokedin theretelling the executions:

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the for first it He gives signal the execution; wastobeoftheeighteenand man.Wehavehimapproach, having cayear-old young kissed, ressed, sucked, polluted Braschi Pope] him, [the informs heisgoing him tobe crucified St.Peter, like headdownward. hears sentence He his with and it I was stoic resignation undergoescourageously. frigging [the driven andwhodo yousuppose whilethenailswere being in; Pope] who wielded hammers? samepriests hadjustcelebrated the The the Masses.After the manto hiscross attached the affixing young they latter oneofthespiraled to pillars Saint of Peter's altar, attention and
was turned thegirloffifteen. to [Juliette, 802-031

The executionsare carriedout matter-of-factly whatever and, the reader's reactions, theyare unlikely includethe experience the to of sublime.Onlywhenit is notcountered an excessofgrotesque can by theexcessofviolencestrike as sublime, infrequent an in us occurrence to a Sade's work.We are thusreturned thepathetic sublime, perhaps moregenuine but form, a moredatedone. Sade's sublimeofterror of alone,withand owingto its admixture And grotesque, pointsthe way toward modernity. yet,it does have some literary antecedents and an undeniableaffinity with baroque of whichjustified profuseness words the of conceptions thesublime, God's greatness, resorted "an almost and to by the need to celebrate deliriousmix of all forms language."117 of Sade carries Admittedly, a thosedeviations longwayand assignsthema quite different function,so thatit is notalwayspossibleto decidewhether aims at the he sublimeorat itsparody. wouldpropose third I a to approach thisquestion: goingbeyondthe textualeffect the rhetorical or to intent, the from Sade theman)thatemerges from verbal the persona(as dinstinct overflow. Here one would encounter Man Ray's famous,imaginary of the exerted Sade's portraits Sade,whichdemonstrate fascination by universe excess.Ultimately, maywell be thispersona of it thatstands out as sublime. of As themainstay Sadean libertine violenceconstiestheticism, and tutesa system as such systematically infiltrates Sade's language. its to it Although logiccannotbe reduced a rhetoric, generates proceand forms argumentation. have alof We dures,strategies, recurring and alludedto thecrudeness muchof ready examined blackhumor of the diction.Sade's blendofpolishedor oratorical styleand "obscene on: has been commented vocabulary" often
17. AlainMichel, "Sublime parole Dieu. De SaintAugustin Fenelon," et de Revue a d'histoire litt6raire la France86/1(1986):51-61. de

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Andwhen three we women were quite ofoursenses, setto all out we frigging ourselves tarts, the like until daystar the in heavens, coming to
illumineoursaturnalia, forced to suspendthem.[Juliette, us 1088]

Thiskindofcontrast between levelsoflanguage, two not although rare in eighteenth-century pornography, clasheswithreaders' expectations of and in Sade acquiresa realpower aggression. it Sade exploits to the limit.It often opposestheelegant, conventional of description classic in of and the enumeration partsof the body, conducted the beauty, crudestvocabulary. The lengthy that catalogues and dissertations the of scenesare abruptly interrupt unfolding theplot or ofthe orgy another of Theirallegedintention form aggression through language. is to justify Sade's materialist philosophy crimeand libertinage of either an or through endlessseriesofwildexamples through sophistic Their most commoneffect to frustrate readerand is the reasoning. strain orherpatience. his Those threestrategies-crude and language,dissertations, catalogues-reinforce situation conflict the of between reader and narrativevoicealready of scene(for latter the created thetortures theorgy by in takes often produce someambivalence thereader). This interaction leveland it bearsa crucialrelation thevoiceand to place at theverbal in thebody. the of and Indeed, importance orality Sade'stext, itscontriof is Our as butionto thestaging violence, quitesignificant. responses will most likelyincludethe same internalization orality of readers The thatcharacterizes Sade'swriting. obscenewordseals theassociathe violence.It harks tion of the scatological, sexual,and unbridled thatlinkstheexcremental thesexual, to backto theinfantile theory The andsummons popular the lexiconofthe"mother tongue."18 cataa loguesaremadeup ofseriesofexempla, formulaic technique whose in the The underscores oralfiliation. seriesofexemtypography verses in as flout pla, presented evidence thecourseofa demonstration, logic in a jocose (orperhaps mode: earnest) for Do all people absurd bonds? us Let havethesamerespect these who them. InLapland, Tartary, in rapidly review those have / despised inAmerica, is anhonor prostitute wife a stranger. to it to one's /The .. was authorized theGreeks Illyrians ., etc./Adultery publically by negroes thePepper of Coast..., etc./Singha, QueenofAngola ..., etc."[Juliette, 68-691
a ... , etc. / Cook discovered societyin Otaitiwhere. .. , etc. The

18. See Pierre "L'amour muqueux," Traverses (October 29 FRdida, 1983):98.

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for This seriescontinues no less thanthree in pages,thenormal length this caricatures onlytherhenot Violently parodic, technique fuliette. of toricalmodel,but the cataloguing scientific classifications (these in It tooaredistantly rooted oralculture). owesitssubversive impact as much to its bombastand motley as juxtapositions to the outrageous doctrines claimsto illustrate. for dissertations harangues, it As the or they partially are modeled theclassicalrhetoric therevolutionary on of It whichthey verbal flowandnot discourse, parody. is therushoftheir thescandaloftheir content thatshouldbe underscored: La nouvelle in Justine and L'histoire fuliette, harangues de the over easily stretch twenty pages. One is tempted link theirunboundedprogress to to Sade's fifteen yearsof almost continuousimprisonment, especially a since theyinsistently in foreground situationof communication A whichthereceiver supposed be a listener. reaction silenceand is to to isolationand to Sade's frantic desireto be heard(as attested byhis to the the of correspondence), harangue generates fantasy a doublesituationofcommunication, onceinternal external: at and first addressing a fictional it character, mayeven,whenit reachesits fullest develop19 to at shift a "you" directed theexternal world. It is hardnotto ment, thinkof Sade imprisoned theBastille,haranguing crowd-his at the and allies-from his window, denouncing enemies.The his potential the sustains pulsionwiththeimaginary of harangue support thevoice, closerto the bodythanthe written word,and forany real exchange a substitutes rhetorical withthe triumph the orator. of joust,ending The insistence thebodyfinds maximaland mostdisturbing of its The of outcomein coprophilia. ultimate expression thesadisticsuperhis ego,Sade's coprophilia/coprophagia represents ultimate challenge tothesocialorder totheauthority texts tradition. and of and Although it participates in significantly Sadean textualviolence,from perthe of spective thispaperit also raisesthefollowing questions:whatis its relation Sadeanestheticism? to Does it in anywaylaythefoundation an esthetics theugly? of the for is Regarding first question, coprophagia voice as a highly unequivocally presented the narrative by positive of Thispraise, course, doesnotneedtobe takenliterally, even practice. we Sade'sowninclination, as a though knowitmerely exaggerates but, is for of figure, coprophilia themostextreme metaphor theinversion values thatprevailsin the Sadean discourseof libertinage. Further19. Such is thecase,in Juliette, Delbene'ssecondharangue of (29-38),and ofthe pope'sharangue (765-98).

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it not more, signifies onlytheinversion, also thereunion topand but of bottom. The mouth notonlythesiteoforalpleasure absorption, is and butofspeech,so thatthemouth-anus conjunction-thesecondbeing to function to instinctual or exclusively devoted theorganic satisfacwiththemeaning "a consciousreof tion-may endowcoprophagia " of of claiming thedrive. The coprophagic figure, "junction theunique and thefragmentary," appears, then, themostaccurate as representation of the libertine's the driveinto majorundertaking: converting it it and discourse, justifying conceptually, turning intoa statement an Its as can objectofcommunication.20 significance perverse exchange be thanpersuading, negates presence it the hardly denied, since,rather in of anydisgust thewriting subjectand introduces violentforms of it absorption expulsion. and Nevertheless, clearly belongs withSadean estheticism. it also be argued thatcoproOn thebasis ofthisreasoning, might in of that phagiaparticipates an esthetics theugly, considering itsrepresentation invadesthe sum constituted The 120 Days ofSodom, by and Its The New Justine, The Story fuliette. maininnovation to of is of witha highdegree closeness. as replace esthetic distance Deprived a that resultoftheacceptability habitually goesalongwithrepresentaan tion,theobjectlooms largeand nearand carries unwonted charge of disgustand grotesque, toward whichthe obscenevocabulary and that detailsplayan essentialrole.Letus note,however, notarealistic and the tionsoftasteseldomappear that visualpredominates, together of of withabstract verbs actionandtheneartotalexclusion thesenseof to smell,all traitsthatmay still owe something the classical tradiBoithe is toward tion.21 Nevertheless, overalleffect one ofdisregard leau's dictatesin his Art poetique,22 or even of willfuldefiance.
sexualdeviations: 20. I am quoting from Lacarriere, writes gnostic who of Jacques the of the "Where do exactly wefind starting-pointthecycle. . . whichshuttles unconIf to scious driveand its consciousreclaiming from one to the other? we return the the joinstheanus,place revealing imageofthesnakebiting tail. .. itis where mouth its .. unconofjunction theunique and thefragmentary. or .. . forthefragmented for scious and the totalizing consciousness"(Les Gnostiques[Paris:Gallimard, 19731, 21. Rimbaud was to takethisone stepfurther granting moreimportance the to by senseofsmell.See AnneBerger, banquetde Rimbaud(Paris:ChampVallon,1992), Le in for Anadyomene," places 51-71. In herreading, Rimbaud's practice, instance "Venus a himoutsidean esthetics theugly, whichit constitutes rejection. of of by may 22. "There'snota Monster bredbeneath sky/ But,welldisposed Art, the in The Boileau,trans. "by pleasetheEye"(Boileau, ArtofPoetry, TheWorks Monsieur of Canto3. several hands"[London: Sanger, E. 1712]),
106-07).

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a atWhether not thislast textualpracticeconstitutes deliberate or that it to tempt esthetic at experimentation; is, whether corresponds it or of an esthetic project to a form wishfulfillment to both), taxes (or the reader'sresistanceto the limit. The scenes of corprophilia/ withsomeofthetorture the scenes,precipitate coprophagia, together violenceofwriting a maximum. to to Sade's Forthereis also a violencespecific writing, particularly endeavor seemsto be to nameeverything and whoseprimary writing, record everything. of Violentaspectsoforality and thusleavea lasting violencefrom intoSade's writthebodygainanother beingsolidified The experience reading latterbrings into a of the ten monument. us Although manyamong rareproximity thisviolenceand its author. to us aremoresensitive thanearlier to twentieth-century generations the and of againstall social, repressive regressive potential Sade's protest Sade's own revolutionary gesture political,and ethical constraints, to In was to carry powerofwriting such absoluteextremes. this the in a whoseeffects, sense,he pavedthewayfor revolution thesymbolic since remain havenottotally their lost however, unfulfilled, hisworks to capacity astonishand disturb.