Eric Marty's 'Sade et le 20e siècle' Examines 20th-Century Readings of Marquis de Sade

Éric Marty's book 'Sade et le 20e siècle' analyzes why the 20th century took the Marquis de Sade seriously. Published by Éditions du Seuil in the 'Fiction & Cie' collection, the work focuses on two pivotal years: 1947 and 1967. In 1947, key texts appeared including Klossowski's 'Sade mon prochain', Bataille's article in Critique and his conference 'Sade et la morale', Blanchot's 'À la rencontre de Sade' in Les Temps Modernes, and Adorno and Horkheimer's 'Juliette ou Raison et morale'. These works grappled with Sade in the wake of World War II, with some equating his representations to Nazi atrocities while others saw him as a liberator. In 1967, the journal Tel Quel published issue No. 28 devoted to 'La pensée de Sade', featuring contributions from Klossowski, Barthes, and Sollers, marking an open engagement with Sade's text. Marty examines the coherence of Sollers's readings across decades, noting his full endorsement of Sade without reticence. The book also critiques hesitations in Bataille, Lacan's relative failure on Sade, Deleuze's ruse between Sacher-Masoch and Sade, and Barthes's exaggerations. Marty suggests that Pasolini's 1975 film 'Salò or the 120 Days of Sodom' closed the century of great Sade readings, though it was disliked by Foucault, Deleuze, and Barthes.