Philosophy in the Bedroom
Common interpretation of the writings of the Marquis De Sade asserts that the writings comprise a series of pornographic fantasies and indulgences which, while being steeped in a cogent and accomplished literary technique, fall short of thematic depth or profundity. The writings of the Marquis De Sade, as pornographic excess, demonstrate a degree of radicalism strictly in terms of challenging the boundaries of social mores, sexual open-mindedness, and personal freedom. This assertion, when placed against the historical backdrop of the Enlightenment, seems self-evident enough; however, the acknowledgment of the cultural or political radicalism of De Sade's writings are not sufficient enough in and of themselves to refute the charge against De Sade that his works are relatively empty of (non-pornographic) ideas. The following discussion endeavors to present evidence that De Sade's writings express thematic ideas which fall outside of themes of sexual perversity or sexual liberation and that these ideas are both profound and worthy of the literary style and articulation of the works in question. In order to demonstrate that De Sade's sexual writings are, in fact, much more thematically complex than it first appears, focus will be placed on the "Dialogue the Fifth" section of the Philosophy of the Bedroom (1795) with view toward explicating non-sexual themes directly from the text.
Before beginning the explication of "Dialogue the Fifth" it is important to point out that, while the following discussion aims to demonstrate that the themes of the Marquis De Sade do reach a point of articulation beyond merely erotic or sexual ideas, the core-symbolism of "Dialogue the Fifth" remains libidinous in nature. This means that, even though the "deep" themes of the selection may be "beyond" issues of sexuality, the expression of even "deep" themes in De Sade issues from a sexually based iconography. This prevents any mode of explication which attempts to ignore the sexual aspect of the material altogether; however, it is not only possible, but desirable to view the sexual and libidinous materials in a fashion which diminishes the exploitative of pornographic aspect almost to nil. Obviously, this last assertion seems incongruous with the material at hand, so it is worthwhile to demonstrate with an example, the way in which the sexual or erotic element of De Sade's writings can be seen as a mere device rather than the thematic "target."
In the opening "scene" of "Dialogue the Fifth," the promise of lust and pornographic excess is immediately given. Madame De Saint-Ange presents Augustin with the following lines which one imagines are meant to be heard in the manner of a carnival barker: "Let's on with it friends, let's to our frolics; what would life be without its little amusements?" (De Sade, 66). In order to understand the opening scene and De Saint-Ange's lines in their fullest, non-sexual connotation, the scene has to be properly read, not as pornographic titillation, but as social satire. This is simply accomplished by taking in the whole of De Sade's narrative construction of the scene, rather than isolating and magnifying the libidinous aspects of the scene.
To begin with, if it was De Sade's intention merely to generate pornographic excess, or to shock by the use of sexual imagery, then there would be no need of any "extra-libidinous" narrative whatsoever. The entirety of "Dialogue the Fifth" could have been comprised of nothing but graphic descriptions of sex. This is clearly not the case; a profound conflict between characters is set-up from the opening lines of "Dialogue the Fifth" and, in addition to the depth of character depiction, the scene itself is far too meticulously composed to serve merely as a vehicle for pornography.
In other words, if one were to remove the sexual element of the opening scene of "Dialogue the Fifth" one would still have a story and that story would involve the interpersonal relationships between the characters. What the libidinous or pornographic tones of the scene contribute is not to diminish these interpersonal relationships, but to enhance and explicate them more fully for the reader. What De Sade is saying, in effect, is that when people observe social protocol and meet one another and interact, the same predatory, libidinous "waves" interact between them, but they are usually cloaked under a complex system of social mores and cultural euphemisms. Read in this way, De Sade's writings emerge as being less concerned with issues of sexuality and more concerned with issues of social mendacity. The pornographic element of De Sade is ironic in nature, as when De Saint-Ange remarks, "I have been six months struggling to turn this great pig into something fit for civilized society" (De Sade, 66). The implication is that -- in order to fit within "civilized society" one must be depraved.
Depravity for De Sade may even appear to be based largely upon sexual repression and issues of sexual liberation. Again, this idea is very tempting, but it is specious. In reality, the symbolism and iconography of sexuality is not meant to liberate the sexual impulses of the reader or to rail against the repression of sexual freedom, but to instill in the reader a deep sense of the hypocrisy and mendacity of human society. The use of libidinous and sexual imagery and surface-themes by De Sade is, in itself, a literary device which is meant ironically. The reader is both shocked and fascinated by the displays of rampant sexual depravity described by De Sade, but these acts and displays take place -- always -- in the context of "proper" society. The clash of these seemingly opposite energies is shown, through De Sade's brilliant use of irony, to be an illusion. Instead, what De Sade shows is a world in which social mores and cultural manners and prohibitions are used to create a pornographic world, one which is as much a parody and distortion of human nature and "truth" as pornography is a parody and distortion of true human sexuality.
Such a conclusion may seem daring, or even far-fetched in light of De Sade's excessive and highly compulsive insistence on sexual depravity as the focal point of narrative action. This aspect of De Sade can also be considered to be ironic in nature as the relentless and almost monotonous depictions of "perversion" are meant to express the theme of an all-powerful all-consuming life-force being continually distorted and misunderstood by humanity. The ubiqutous irony of such a symbolic construction is clearly profound and has nothing to do with sexual pornography of perversion whatsoever. Instead, De Sade accuses humanity of overlooking its very soul.
The idea that humanity has overlooked, oppressed, or constrained its very life-force and soul beneath hypocritical social ideas is one which fits comfortably with what we understand about the period of the Enlightenment and even corresponds to many of our own experiences in society in the twenty-first century. Such a theme involves issues of sexuality and sexual liberation, but it is not solely about them. The deep themes of De Sade's writings have more to do with issues of hypocrisy and self-deception than with issues of sexual perversion. The sexual aspects of De Sade's writings are inseparable form the ironic expression of his writings. As such, there is nothing pornographic in De Sade other than what the observer projects onto the works. Rather, the works stand as scathing indictments of social mendacity adn personal hypocrisy and use libidinous ideas and symbols to express a deep form of satiric social criticism.
Works Cited
De Sade, Marquis, Philosophy in the Bedroom, Supervert.com; accessed11-21-09 http://www.sin.org/tales/Marquis_de_Sade--Philosophy_in_the_Bedroom.pdf.
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