Justine, Philosophy in the Bedroom, and Other Writings | 
 enlarge | Author: Marquis De Sade
Publisher: Grove Press
Category: Book
List Price: $18.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  42 reviews
Sales Rank: 23247
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 753
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.8
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.4 x 1.9
ISBN: 0802132189
Dewey Decimal Number: 843.6
EAN: 9780802132185
ASIN: 0802132189
Publication Date: January 11, 1990
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Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new item. Over 3.5 million customers served. Order now. Selling online since 1995. Order with confidence. Code: B20080905212623T
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Product Description
This volume contains Philosophy in the Bedroom, a major novel that presents the clearest summation of his political philosophy; Eugénie de Franval, a novella widely considered to be a masterpiece of eighteenth-century French literature; and the only authentic and complete American edition of his most famous work, Justine.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 37 more reviews...
 obsession July 2, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
After having seen the film "Quivers" about de Sade with Geoffrey Rush, I was intrigued and wanted to learn more about the writer by reading his writing. The guy is obsessed with sodomy--it gets tiresome. His writing, though intelligently presented, is eclipsed by his incredibly juvenile and obsessive sensibilities. Not a favourite tome.
 Good one April 2, 2008
He is a freak and that is why I like his writing.
What a life this guy led.
Much more than I ever thought it would be February 4, 2008
As one of the introductory authors mentioned "that those who read know of Sade, but very few ever actually read Sade." I was this person until I finally read this book. My one complaint is that prior to this I had never read Sade, so reading the introduction was a bit daunting. I didn't fully understand their references, those from his literature or historical. So if this is actually your first book of Sade's, or any of the others from this publisher, skip the introduction and read it at the end. The introductory essays seem to be written from the perspective of someone that expects their readers to be fairly well versed in Sade, a terrible thing if you never read Sade until now. So read them at the end and it won't ruin anything for you, rather they will enhance the work for you upon reading them in the end.
I will say this about the introductory material though, the section with the historical time-line was superb. I found it very interesting as well as useful. I have a couple other editions of De Sade's works and this one appears to be the best by far, aside from the fact it's not very friendly from a portable stand-point, but the writing/translations seem better than some others I've come across.
I would still say Sade is quite the controversial author and I've been getting into books of that nature as of late. As I am also currently reading Mein Kampf as I write this. I think a vast amount of people have opinions on these kinds of authors, but have never read their works. De Sade, for example, I think is typically unjustly demonized by a great many people. Hitler is a little more justified in being demonized, but I still think people should read his book before they start to exult some opinion on the person in detail. Sade, on the other hand, is little more complex and less obvious. His main problem is that he wrote Justine and in 18th century thinking, that is a grave enough sin in itself. Not so in the 20th century, though I don't think sadistic pleasure has fully outdone Sade yet, because he set a pretty strong precedent. Though, if he was going around doing the things he wrote about to women in "Justine," his demonization would be far more justified. As it is, he was involved with one girl, that was apparently willing at first, but changed her mind later. However, what was done is nothing compared to what he writes about or what is done to people nowadays, of course in that era, it was probably seen as far worse and shocking.
Either way, the French government went through lengths to try and destroy his works, but thankfully for those astute readers they are here for us to enjoy, or be reviled by, as it is up to the reader to decide. I stress that it is up to the reader, opinions on works not being read are useless in my point of view, all you can merely say at that point is that "it is not something that interests me," but one should not delve into a conversation about the work in question!
The first text is "Philsophy in the Bedroom," and what an interesting work that is. It is a mixture of philosophy, politics, and gratuitous sex. I will admit the homosexuality brought up in the writing caught me off guard at first, for it was unexpected. I typically do not go after that sort of writing, but the philosophical aspect is what kept me turning the pages. Though I must admit my own general deviancy, because some of the scenes were quite well done when the characters were not philsophizing. The part I struggled with though were the political discussions, I'm not an avid follower of politics in the 20th & 21st century, so I know quite a bit less about historical politics, unfortunately. I think a lot of the political discussions taking place between the characters focused on politics of that era (and are very specific to France), so any student of historical politics will likely find this vastly fascinating. The discusions on philosophy, such as the philosophy of crime leading to true freedom is quite a bit more interesting to me as I am more interested in philosophy in general. (Not that Sade has truly convinced me to go out and commit criminal acts by any means.) It shows that Sade was very well thought out in his writings because he makes fairly convincing arguments, though in terms of liberation, I believe it is up to the person. If you choose to live by such societal restrictions and your inner inhibitions coincide with the populace then you are free by your own point of view. If you find these things extremely limiting, then you are not free. I suspect Sade found societal normalcy a trapping that he sought to escape, thus he had a far different view on criminal acts.
The next two sections were relatively short, especially the discussion between a Priest and a Dying Man, which is essentially a satirical work. It clearly shows the lack of love Sade has for the church. Since I essentially agree with this sentiment, I had no problems with this, but those people out there who are religious may have an issue with this. However, I can't see the devoutly religious enjoying Sade's work and sexual vulgarity in the least to begin with. Next we have "Marie du Franval", also known as "Incest" from another publisher. This story is quite different than some of his other works, it's not nearly as explicit, but it does cross one of the more extreme taboo lines between father and daughter. Interestingly it does have a fairly unhappy ending for his main character who ends up losing what he loves most. A curious ending for Sade, since Sade preaches full liberty in most of his stories (regardless of who it would hurt). Perhaps this was merely written creatively to switch up his usual works, a break from the norm and to show, as an author, he can work outside of his comfort zone (so to speak).
The final part of this collection is the great apex of Sade's works. This is one of his most well known works and flows in conjunction, to a degree, with "Juliette." Here we have "Justine" the work that was Sade's undoing and got him put in prison, but made his works live on in infamy. This was, personally, my favorite tale in this entire collected works. That opinion, of course, may change as I read more, but so far I am summarily impressed. Justine has the greatest story and best blend of demented sex and philosophy in all the book. I can see why they saved this until the end. Justine is a lost child who seeks to guard her virtue above all other things. However, she is thrust through a sequence of very unfortunate circumstances and is debauched in some of the worst ways imaginable. However, all of her captors seem to be more than just a lout who is merely exacting pleasure for no reason. No, these characters a typically well educated, some are wealthy, and think about the philosophy and motivations of their particular desires. Not only do they think about their internal motivations, they are also happy to expound on this at length to their captives! The pinnacle of this is by far when she is taken captive by the monks, and I won't ruin it for anyone, but I'm sure this particular section is what did Sade in. Justine can never seem to "get saved" but rather goes from clutches to clutches of various captors, when all she wants is to live a wholesome life that she can be proud of. This will never be the case for her, and she is very disillusioned with life by the end. In the end the reader feels it is a very tragic tale over all. However, we'll see a wholly different perspective with her sister Juliette.
A lot of people see the sadism and the lascivous sex as the trademark of Sade's work, others walk away having a different perspective on life in general. I feel I am one of the latter, because I had never particularly thought of the philosophy of commiting crimes. While some of the sexual deviancy is very strong, I felt I could stomach them better because they were written (of course doing a lot of this stuff in real life is very illegal, and some would likely kill a person), but if you are particularly weak hearted then this may be a text to avoid. All some people want to read are the sex scenes and they want to skip the philosophy, this is probably a lot easier to pull off. I would say the works are typically about half and half in terms of philosophy versus sex, and I found the mixture is really what kept me turning the pages. I always wanted to find out what the next antogonist of vices had in store for me next, and how would Justine react to that particular philosopher! All in all, I would recommend this great work, but I realize that this is surely not a work for everyone, so if what I've said appeals to you, read it, if not, don't read it.
a wonderful one-handed book... July 26, 2006
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
While it is interesting how the Marquis works in his philosophy (about 30 pages of orgy, around the same length of the most well-endowed man reading aloud from a political pamphlet one of them just happended to pick up on the way, followed about 30 more pages of orgy and so on), the desired effects are accomplished: the reader is left satisfied on the intellectual, philosophical, and yes, sexual levels.
As for Justine, one can definitely feel for the main character and itch to read Juliette, a wonderful companion which is also available here at Amazon. Some of Sade's descriptions are not for the weak at heart though, but that's part of life and the risk you take in leafing through a book like this.
I didin't really know a thing about actual libertinage before I read this book, but that certainly isn't the case now! I had only expected to be enlightened on a half-way intellectual level; I bought this book without considering the possibilites of the content suggested by the title.
Sade's refreshing view of sex and world-view (which ranges from indifferent to - surprise - "sadistic" in every sense of the word) was indeed way ahead of his time. While you probably won't agree whole-heartedly with him, he definitely gives the reader something to think about as far as the darker side of the human mind is concerned. Enjoy!
The Marquis is a most misunderstood man... May 14, 2006
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
In one of the introduction essays in this collection, the translators write that those who read know of de Sade, but so few of those have actually read any of his work. People know who the Marquis de Sade is. He's referenced constantly in film, TV, and literature, and it's always some childish, snickering S & M reference. If his work was simply for shock value, it would have long been forgotten about. This is a man of ideas and philosophy. A terrifying vision, no doubt, but a unique and fascinating one, for those who can take it. This is an excellent compliation, including the complete version of Justine, the excellent Philosophy in the Bedroom, the hilarious Dialogue Between a Priest and a Dying Man, and the superb Eugenie de Franval, one of de Sade's most respected short stories. Grove Press (who also put out Henry Miller's banned work) has also Juliette, the companion piece to Justine, and The 120 Days of Sodom and other writings as well. This book is the best of the three, in terms of its content (even thought Sodom's prose is much better than Justine. Justine is a more thought out book). It is a difficult read, and it's terrifying to be in de Sade's universe. But he also displays a dark humour (especially in Philosophy and Eugenie) that most people never give him credit for. And as one reviewer noted, the movie "Quills", while entertaining, is historically inaccurate. De Sade did die in Charnenton, but nothing like it was in the film. He died quietly in his sleep. Read this man's work. We're lucky to have these works, as most of his work was destroyed....
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