Category: Marquis de Sade

Before diving into the book’s context, let’s discuss who de Sade was. Marquis de Sade was a known libertine, or someone who challenges moral principles, usually in a sexual manner. As this book was being written, de Sade was in prison for the umpteenth time due to his sexually explicit behaviors and crimes. Taking this into account, it seems like 120 Days of Sodom could’ve been written as a memoir of sorts regarding his own sexually explicit acts and fantasies he wanted to act on. Contrarily, this book could also be a bastardized satire regarding the elite classes of France and their actions against the people. This book was written in 1785, or just 4 years before the French Revolution, so political tensions would’ve most definitely been high at this point.

Taking a look at our characters in the book, all four of the “offending” men hold positions of power. You have the Duc de Blangis, a figurehead of nobility; the Bishop, who serves as a figurehead of the church; Durcet, a banker or someone dealing in finances; and finally, the President de Curval, who served as a judge in the courts. All of these characters represent those of the elite class in France, people who would not have been looked at fondly during this time the book was being written. It is very plausible, considering their positions and actions within the novel, that this was a book written to poke fun at this class. However, it seems the book was never finished as the ending devolves into a bulleted listing of events, so we may never know de Sade’s true intent behind 120 Days of Sodom. There is further convincing evidence of satire being the case, due to how corrupt the elites of France were at the time. The fact that de Sade mentions that every character has a hand in the murders of others could be a commentary on how the elite would execute those of the lower classes and those who opposed their rulings.

Currently, it seems as though the original text sits in the form of a scroll in the Museum of Letters and Manuscripts in Paris, France. It’s unclear as to how many copies of this book exist today, but it is noted that this work is still controversial to this day. Was de Sade a secret author of satire, or was this novel perverted just for the sake of perversion? We may never know, but I can say for certain that it is extremely disturbing in content, and even if satire was indeed his angle, it could’ve been achieved with less pedophilia and sexual torture.

I rarely read a book and immediately want to go back in time to prevent myself from doing so. Still, Marquis de Sade’s 120 Days of Sodom definitely takes the cake for arguably the most disturbing piece of literature I’ve ever read. No amount of forewarning could’ve prepared me for what this book would entail, and no amount of bleach or head trauma could ever remove the words I’ve read from my brain.

TW: Pedophilia, Torture, Sexual Assault, and pretty much every other disturbing sexual deviancy under the sun.

Firstly, I think de Sade is a horrible author. Not only is his writing extremely pompous and flowery for no reason, but he also takes 67 WHOLE PAGES to world-build and introduce our main characters. Never in my life did I think I would be reading 67 pages containing character descriptions such as sexual fantasies and member size. I won’t go too much into it, but let’s just say I was ready to quit after page 11. On page 68, de Sade finally gets onto the plot…or lack thereof. For the next 300 or so pages, the book basically follows a formula: the characters wake up, eat while having nude children serve them, engage in sexual acts with practically everyone under the sun, listen to some Wattpad-quality sexual stories some old ladies tell them, eat again, and go off to bed with their choice of victims for the night. It was so monotonous in such an awful way, there was barely any plot or development in these pages. It felt like section 1 was reserved for de Sade to write out his own sexual fantasies under the guise of his four main characters, who are all equally disturbed and grotesque.

Then, our book just tumbles into this dark pit of debauchery. Sections 2-4 are written as a bulleted list of different sexual stories from these old ladies that steadily increase in torment and violence. At the end of the book, they literally start torturing their old and new wives alike, and even kill most of their sexual partners. Every single act described in this book feels as though it comes from the pits of hell itself; it’s that debauched and disturbing. At this point in the reading, I started to question my own sanity while reading: “Surely this can’t be the entire book…right?” It was.

Furthermore, I genuinely cannot fathom why de Sade would write such a piece of literature if not to express his own disturbing fantasies. For the life of me, I cannot make out a single message or lesson to be learned from this book besides the fact that it made me want to invent time travel just to go back and prevent myself from reading it. I can perfectly understand why this text is considered forbidden, because who in their right mind would want to read 397 pages about sexual torture and pedophilia? I mean, besides the people who engage in such activities themselves, who are such scummy people, maybe they would indeed enjoy the horrendous activities in this novel.

Overall, I implore whoever reads this blog to NEVER read this book unless you want to be subjected to undue horrors and atrocities. Marquis de Sade is a freak, and this book definitely corroborates this claim. I have nothing good to say about it, and I wish to never read anything similar ever again.