First of all, what. The. Heck. I knew that Marquis de Sade was going to be… odd, to say the least, but his life is almost as shady and disturbing as the lives of the libertines in his book. The author of the introduction begins by showing the reader a timeline of de Sade’s life, noting—but not necessarily naming—all of the events that suggest some of the characteristics displayed in The 120 Days of Sodom.
As a child, de Sade is shown to have violent tendencies, as noted when he viciously attacks his friend over some trivial matter. As far as it seems, these tendencies only grow and evolve into more sex-focused aggressions as he ages. I wonder how he gets away with so many things that are quite plainly not right. He takes an interest in young girls and has public scandals involving orgies and questionable levels of consent from his sexual partners. The letters that de Sade writes to his wives and mistresses while in prison are equally disturbing; at least, that is how it seems when the author mentions that he asks for an anal dildo and threatens to murder his lover. It makes me want to talk to the people that appear in the introduction, like the father of a servant who spent time with de Sade, or his jailors in one of the many prisons he was locked up in.
Strangely enough, it almost seems as though Marquis de Sade has no real desire to hide his habits from the public. He clearly denies accusations of abduction and, apparently, having bones buried in his garden, but does not seem to hide what he is doing from his friends or the general public. I wonder if this perception is merely amplified by the context in which I am reading it now, or if de Sade really is either apathetic or unhinged. Doing more research along the topic would likely be fascinating (albeit disturbing) and I would love to gain insight on what people’s opinion of de Sade is during his life. The actual book will be, I expect, about what one would expect to be lurking in the mind of the man that “sadism” is named after.