Is the Marquis de Sade an author worth reading?

Question

His writings are considered by critics as scandalous, yet there is great fascination for his depiction of sexuality and pleasure seeking. I have read several of his works such as 'Juliet' and 'Misfortunes of Virtue'; I would like to know your opinion regarding this unique and controversial character and whose philosophy of unrestrained freedom and sexuality have made him famous for the equivocal reasons.

Answer 1

Anyone's writings are worth reading.
You can learn from anyone.

The Marquis de Sade's philosophy of living for personal pleasure is interesting, though it is totally selfish and can never lead to any true happiness or fulfilling healthy relationships. And when embraced by a sadist such as de Sade it is map leading to rape, torture, and serial murder*.

While I found his thoughts interesting, they come from a twisted, sick, and flawed personality and unless you are studying mental aberrations I don't think they deserve much serious consideration.

.If you feel a need to read his writings you can get his entire philosophy from "Dialogue Between A Priest And A Dying Man".

"The Misfortune Of Virtue", where virtue gets punished and debauchery.rewarded was interesting to read. However due to my labeling it as propaganda early on and my personal distaste for the subject I didn't really enjoy the read.

I scanned "The 120 Days Of Sodom" but didn't truly read it, as my feeling by this time was that de Sade didn't have anything new to say that I wanted to hear.



*de Sade was never proven to be a murderer, though it is known that he did torture and molest several unwilling victims

Answer 2

He was a groundbreaker in literature. There also was an Englishman a few decades before him, who wrote about risque topics. Later on Edgar Allan Poe calmed the topic down a bit and wrote the first detective novel. Yet Marquis de Sade will also be remembered as an original writer with an original vision.