Serving as an appropriate and informative addendum to the text, the Penguin edition’s introduction to 120 Days of Sodom gives significant context to both the life and work of Marquis de Sade, as well as the history of the book itself. Initially a shocking work to read, 120 Days of Sodom deepens in meaning as one deals with this introduction. Sade himself could have been considered a “libertine”, much like his 4 infamous Lords, and perhaps some of the stories recounted by the four storytellers were coming from his memory rather than his imagination. Truly, Sade lived in pursuit of pleasure. Yet the question remains: what was his purpose in creating 120 Days of Sodom? Was it the ravings of a lunatic (Sade admitted to his own mental unravelling during his lifetime)? A twisted bucket list of libertine passions? Or, was Sade attempting to provoke a reaction from his readers? This final hypothesis finds grounding in the introduction. Simone de Beauvior is quoted as he refers to the “supreme value” of Sade’s work. Beauvior claims that this value “lies in its ability to disturb us” (32), to evoke those guttural reactions of disgust. Sade (presumably) does not write in order to bring others into the libertine fold. Indeed, depravity does not “necessarily deprave”(27). It can inspire us, through our disgust, to seek new vocations and new callings. By exposing us to the harsh reality of the world that, if left to our own devices, we might shy away from and ignore, he helps us take action against it. “Written down, shit does not smell” (26), instead we are able to recognize the reflective nature of the literature, and understand that, while this written shit may not smell, there is real shit in the world that does. Given this understanding, the job is afforded to the reader to clean it up. Sade, a somewhat accomplished writer himself, most likely intended to send a message with his work rather than writing something of this nature for no reason. Sade, through his visceral discussion of the libertine nature and disposition through action, exposes readers to the underbelly of civil society, and informing us of the atrocities we often fail to, or chose not to notice.