The 120 Days of Sodom and Other Writings

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The 120 Days of Sodom and Other Writings

by Marquis de Sade, Richard Seaver, Austrin Wainhouse (Editor)

3.46 of 5 stars 3.46 · rating details · 1,679 ratings · 168 reviews

The Marquis de Sade, vilified by respectable society from his own time through ours, apotheosized by Apollinaire as "the freest spirit that has yet existed," wrote The 120 Days of Sodom while imprisoned in the Bastille. An exhaustive catalogue of sexual aberrations and the first systematic exploration-a hundred years before Krafft-Ebing and Freud-of the psychology of sex,...more

Paperback, 799 pages

Published January 10th 1994 by Grove Press (first published November 28th 1785)

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Oct 20, 2012 mark monday rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: all-fucked-up, sexathon

'tis the season...

13 T A L E S O F T E R R O R: BOOK 1

yes i know that Mr. Donatien-Alphonse-Francois de Sade was all about the freedom of the spirit and the power of the mind to free itself from all fetters, and that those are the underlying themes of all of his works... ugh, who cares? too much genital mutilation and too much shit-eating does not make me want to embrace freedom, it makes me want to lock people up!

on the other hand, the Peter Brook film of The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Ma...more

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Nov 21, 2010 K.D. Oliveros rated it 1 of 5 stars

Recommended to K.D. by: 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (2006-2010)

Shelves: 1001-core, challenging, classics

A long disgusting book. Granted that this is well-written and the author wrote this for patriotic reason, I still don't like this book.

Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade (1740-1814) wrote 120 Days of Sodom to disgust the French people against the corruption in the government of King Louis XIV. Sade was an French aristocrat, revolutionary, writer and a libertine, i.e., one that devoid of moral restraints. This book, 120 Days of Sodom and Other Writings is an erotic book with his philosop...more A long disgusting book. Granted that this is well-written and the author wrote this for patriotic reason, I still don't like this book.

Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade (1740-1814) wrote 120 Days of Sodom to disgust the French people against the corruption in the government of King Louis XIV. Sade was an French aristocrat, revolutionary, writer and a libertine, i.e., one that devoid of moral restraints. This book, 120 Days of Sodom and Other Writings is an erotic book with his philosophical musings and lots of disgusting sex, violence, bizarre sexual fantasies, murder, mutilations and blasphemy against Catholic religion. Sade, being a self-declared popular libertine and a proponent of "extreme freedom", puts in all those negative thoughts in this novel to despise the French people, take up their arms and revolt against their king. This was during the French Revolution (1789-1799). Writing was his way to fight for freedom. He was 45 years (about my age now) old, imprisoned in Bastille, when he wrote this. This time of his life was made into a movie, the 2000 period film starring Geoffrey Rush, Quill.

It is about these 4 extremely wealthy libertines (middle-age men) who troop into a far-flung medieval castle in rural France. They invited 4 aging female prostitutes with the intent of listening to their sexual experiences so they can get inspired to engage on similar sexual acts. After each story, the four libertines put the those stories, fact or fantasies, into action with their victims that include their own daughters, good-looking virgin boys and girls (aged from 12-15), ugly women (to provide contrast) and men with big penises.

I have two older brothers. While I was reading this book, Brother 1 told me to stop. He said he Googled this and he said that the devil lurks inside books like this. You will gain nothing from that book. Brother 2 told me to continue (he has read and liked this book. He says that Sade was a freedom fighter. It is like Mel Gibson shouting "Freeeeeedom!" at the ending scene when he is supposed to be decapitated in the 1995 Oscar Best Picture, Braveheart.

Obviously, I agree with Brother 2. I also agree what he wrote in his review: truly a memorable read. I even agree with Simone de Beauvoir's essay (first part of this book) Must We Burn Sade? defending the beauty and intent of Sade's mind. But I still don't like this book. It is so disgusting and makes me want to puke every after 10 pages or so. It is the reason why it took me more than a month to finish this. In between, I had to read The Holy Bible and happy children's books. (less)

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Mar 10, 2011 Justin rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Veronica Moser fans

Shelves: abominations-unto-the-lord, classics, literary-fiction, read-before-goodreads, read-in-2000s, hello-dad-i-m-in-jail, smut

The Marquis de Sade was an extraordinarily interesting historical figure, but as far as I can tell, he wasn't actually a very good writer. Admittedly, this is the only one of his books I've read, so maybe I'm missing out on something, but if this is how he always writes, he makes Stephenie Meyer look like Shakespeare. I managed to get through the entire thing, but only because I made myself. I was probably unconsciously punishing myself for something, because NO ONE should ever do that. Not only...more

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Jan 27, 2010 Alison rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: teenagers desperately wanting to appear subversive.

Chances are, if you own this book, you've never finished it. And the reason why isn't because you were disturbed or offended or shocked, but that by about Day 35, you had become so completely deadened, you just quit. Reading this book is a litmus test that proves how quickly you become inured to graphic violence and once you do, how tedious it becomes. The effect is kind of like watching a "A Clockwork Orange" backwards. Or listening to adolescent boys trying to one-up each other with gross-out...more

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Dec 24, 2010 Alina rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: french

Read as the result of being downloaded online with two giggling friends. Oh, the youth of today! Nothing good was on telly. The giggling didn't last long, however; this is the fastest way to desensitise yourself in the most boring way ever. This is the setup: A group of people listen to some old slag relating tales of her misspent youth, then they go off and have some jolly japes reenacting her sage wisdom. Rinse and repeat. It's dull after a few pages. You'd think for someone locked in the Bast...more

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Mar 24, 2013 Elizabeth rated it 1 of 5 stars

This was a class assignment (again for Lit. History). I don't believe I would have ever deliberately sought out this book otherwise (curiosity killed the cat, you know). The Marquis de Sade is disgusting, evil, grody, and....highly detailed. I think that those who overuse the word 'sadistic' should read the book and rethink most of the things they have said.

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Mar 22, 2009 Michaela Lugo rated it 2 of 5 stars

After Watching Quills I was engulfed in the character Geoffry Rush played, the character being the Marquis De Sade. After some quick IMDB research I learned the Marquis De Sade was in fact real and wrote many stories. I knew I had to read them. I ran to the library and picked up 120 Days of Sodom. First, I read a few essays preceding the story, all focusing on the Marquis from different angles, one being biographical and psychological, another focusing on him from a religious perspective another...more

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Mar 28, 2013 Ihsan rated it 3 of 5 stars

120 Days of Sodom was devised as a literary encyclopedia of aberrant sexual practices, but it was never finished. De Sade, imprisoned in the Bastille, wrote the first of four parts, but was removed from prison before he could finish the remaining three-fourths, which survive only as an outline.

Unfortunately, most of what he completed focuses on coprophagy. Unless you're heavily into handling and eating feces, this quickly gets monotonous, since no one enjoys hearing other people drone on about t...more 120 Days of Sodom was devised as a literary encyclopedia of aberrant sexual practices, but it was never finished. De Sade, imprisoned in the Bastille, wrote the first of four parts, but was removed from prison before he could finish the remaining three-fourths, which survive only as an outline.

Unfortunately, most of what he completed focuses on coprophagy. Unless you're heavily into handling and eating feces, this quickly gets monotonous, since no one enjoys hearing other people drone on about their sexual fetishes. And like any fetishist indulging himself, De Sade (who in real life liked to have girls fart in his mouth) never tires of repetition.

Had it been finished, 120 Days might have been the most evil book ever written, since the outline sketches a climax of murder and sex-torture that makes John Wayne Gacy look like a piker. De Sade invented torture porn, but no modern movie has gone as far in dovetailing sex and sadism.

His scenario is fiendishly provocative: four aristocrats gather at an isolated mansion on a mountaintop, accompanied by a harem of pubescent girls and boys, four quondam whores, four ugly duennas, and eight well-hung buggers. They have a 120 day-orgy, divided by month into four parts. During each of these, one of the ex-prostitutes tells 150 stories, which inspire the aristocrats to get up to misdeeds of their own. Structurally, the book is a sort of pornographic Decameron, but unlike Boccaccio, Sade cares far less for characterization.

That said, the book devotes much less space to the lengthy passages of tiresome philosophical justification that clog Juliette and Sade's other libertine novels. De Sade's philosophy is basically "I should do whatever I want because other people don't count"--his concept of sexuality is as nihilistic as it is solipsistic. The victims of his libertines do not exist as people--they are there to be used, fucked, and destroyed. Destruction is what most turns on his antiheroes--the power to inflict cruelty and death upon one's inferiors is a turn-on. Keep that in mind the next time a fawning reviewer acclaims De Sade as a profound thinker.

Nasty as it is, 120 Days makes no case for censorship--it is tedious enough to deflect most people from reading or finishing it. Whether in search of porn or wisdom, you'll be disappointed. But if you're in search of a book that shows off the worst of mankind, one written with an indefatigable, demonically fertile imagination, this will open your eyes.

The Seaver/Wainhouse translation is the only reliable one in English. It's comprehensive but irritating, with an overuse of fustian words like “‘tis” and “fustigate.” (less)

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Aug 05, 2011 Shelley rated it 1 of 5 stars

I found this at a used bookstore for a dollar and since it is on the 1001 book list I picked it up. YES, I knew what it was when I got it. I don't live under a rock. This is quite possibly the most vile and disgusting book I have ever touched. I knew it was going to be bad but it surpassed every pre-supposition I had about it. Maybe because I have young daughters that were the same age of the girls that were being used in this book. I could not even get through it, it made me so sick. I am not a...more

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Jul 25, 2011 Kezia rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: literature, philosophy, politics

The "other writings" referred to in the title of this collection include some novellas that stand with some of the best literature of its period. The cruel ironies of "Florville and Courval" would have inspired O Henry, and "Ernestine" offers some extremely well drawn, complicated characters in a short work, the same basic premise of the play "Oxtiern," also included.

As for the title work, we can only imagine what its weight and merit would have been. After a meticulous introduction that provid...more

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Sep 02, 2010 Joselito Honestly and Brilliantly rated it 3 of 5 stars

The book presents one of the many ways men imagine heaven to be.

Four wealthy men (the "heroes") assemble a cast of former prostitutes (who'll serve as their storytellers and supervisors to their sex slaves), cooks (to prepare their meals), servants (to attend their other needs), beautiful boys/men and girls/women (some of them their very own daughters/wives, a majority kidnapped from various places), for the sole purpose of giving themselves pleasure.

Heaven for 120 days. Marquis de Sade wrote th...more The book presents one of the many ways men imagine heaven to be.

Four wealthy men (the "heroes") assemble a cast of former prostitutes (who'll serve as their storytellers and supervisors to their sex slaves), cooks (to prepare their meals), servants (to attend their other needs), beautiful boys/men and girls/women (some of them their very own daughters/wives, a majority kidnapped from various places), for the sole purpose of giving themselves pleasure.

Heaven for 120 days. Marquis de Sade wrote this while in prison, and completed it in 37 days. Only the first 30 days were completed (although unedited and with many errors), days 31 to 120 were only outlined. Then he lost the manuscript. He cried. It was found and published long after his death.

If the reader can only concentrate on what the four "heroes" have enjoyed here, then this novel may avoid being condemned as a black hole among the constellation of bright stars which compose the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (Not that anyone has categorized it that way yet. That was only what I thought this book might be if the others may be considered as stars in this constellation of books.). The four "heroes" discharge (ejaculate) in almost every page, and you men know what heaven there is in an ejaculation. They fulfill any and all fantasies they have whenever they want them except in some instances where they deliberately delay there gratification but only to make the later experience more pleasurable.

But is this how this book should be read? I think so. Ignore the sufferings inflicted upon the other characters here. The basic premise was laid down at the very start: there is no God, only the observable nature; Nature decrees that the strong shall rule the weak; Pleasure is the only sure and perceivable meaning of life. So devote yourself to the pursuit of pleasure, your kind of pleasure, to the hilt. If you get pleasure from the suffering of others, then pursue it without any qualms or hesitation. The "heroes" precisely did that. There were a lot of sex here, unnatural sex (including those involving animals), orgies, sodomy, turd-eating, incest, mutilation, sacrilege (crucifixes and the host used in sexual acts), torture (both physical and mental) and even murder. A truly memorable read.(less)

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Apr 08, 2009 Adrian Colesberry rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I don't know if this is the version I read. I read, I think, the Project Guttenberg version, whichever one that is.
This is not the Sade to read if you want to get turned on. (Unless you get turned on by poop, in which case, stop reading this and get to it.)
The frame of the book is a moral outrage against war profiteers, which seems quite apropos in our time. (The four libertines who drive the plot, kidnap women and children and take them into a mountain retreat where four harlots tell stories e...more

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Jun 11, 2012 Michael rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Radicals, libertines, philosophers

Recommended to Michael by: Robert Anton Wilson

Shelves: classics, left-hand-path, literary-studies, literature, philosophy, satire

Viewed as a critical introduction to a historically significant thinker, this is at least a four-star book. It places the Marquis within his literary, philosophical, and political context well, and gives several viewpoints (including his own) on his importance and originality. As a work of literature, the main work “The 120 Days of Sodom,” is probably one of the most difficult pieces of “narrative” (and I use that term loosely) to read that one could choose. In terms of enjoyment, I could probab...more Viewed as a critical introduction to a historically significant thinker, this is at least a four-star book. It places the Marquis within his literary, philosophical, and political context well, and gives several viewpoints (including his own) on his importance and originality. As a work of literature, the main work “The 120 Days of Sodom,” is probably one of the most difficult pieces of “narrative” (and I use that term loosely) to read that one could choose. In terms of enjoyment, I could probably only give it two stars – but, I didn’t necessarily read it for enjoyment.

I began this book in my last year of college, and finished it on my honeymoon, which took place partly in France (appropriately). It was a daunting volume to read “for pleasure” (meaning, not as an assignment) and foreboded the future of my reading habits. I had been introduced to the idea that de Sade was an important radical thinker by authors who tended to overlook his autocratic and anti-Nature views and uphold him as someone willing to go to extremes. It had also been suggested that he was perhaps the most accurate advocate for the kind of untrammeled capitalism that was ruining the world at the time – thus, he was presented both as hero and villain, somewhat uncritically.

In truth, he was neither, and both. From reading his own defenses of his work (which include disavowal of some of the most controversial works), one gets the impression of a man who was driven by forces he did not completely appreciate himself. It has always seemed to me that, for all of his attempts to break absolutely with the morality of his times, de Sade was still trapped by the trick of deciding that anything disapproved of by the morality of his times must, perforce, be a virtue. Thus, he winds up an anti-moralist, who celebrates all of evil without establishing a truly original ethical re-valuation.

The “120 Days” (which is the bulk of this volume) was to have been his master-work, but it was lost with the destruction of the Bastille. De Sade believed it had been destroyed forever, and his later writings were largely devoted to the task of reinventing it. It is the sort of thing a man with a lot of time on his hands would undertake – a more or less encyclopedic erotic fantasy, intended to cover every possible perversion. The basic plot is that of a group of four extremely debauched libertines holding a variety of victims hostage in a chateau and indulging themselves in sensuality, beginning with minor interests and building towards the most corrupt imaginable. It was not truly finished, although in outline form all 120 days had been covered.

From his description of the characters, one aspect of de Sade’s perspective becomes clear – beauty is bound up in innocence, and this beauty is lost as experience and indulgence are enjoyed. His libertines are described in the most disgusting manner possible, none of them could be remotely attractive, while the victims described as the most beautiful are virginal (and often, children). I see this as part of the holdover from Catholic morality – for some reason de Sade found it impossible to imagine a healthy sexuality which did not debilitate the indulger. As an interesting note, however, I found almost nothing in this book erotic when I read it as a younger man, while in preparing this review, I found several passages that stimulated me. Evidently I am now more “debauched” by de Sade’s definition, and perhaps a more receptive audience to his views than I was at the time.

Still, I cannot imagine anyone short of a psychopath who would not find something in this book objectionable and horrifying. That is really the point, I think. It is something of a trial to read, but it may be the sort of trial that allows one to understand one’s own sexuality and internalized morality more honestly. In that, it is perhaps a worthwhile undertaking, as in the process of coming to understand the concept of “sadism” in its original context.(less)

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Apr 27, 2010 Fabian rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

This is not one for everyone. I am not sure if it is intended for ANYONE actually.

Here are the ravings of a lunatic. Explicit, alluring, majestic--a bunch of adjectives that contradict each other. A man imprisoned does his damn hardest to escape his jail by writing about what he knows and likes best: sex. There is just soo much detail upon detail that you know that in the 36 days it took the Marquis de Sade to concoct such a phantasmagoria of gore he rested not much. This is marathon writing......more This is not one for everyone. I am not sure if it is intended for ANYONE actually.

Here are the ravings of a lunatic. Explicit, alluring, majestic--a bunch of adjectives that contradict each other. A man imprisoned does his damn hardest to escape his jail by writing about what he knows and likes best: sex. There is just soo much detail upon detail that you know that in the 36 days it took the Marquis de Sade to concoct such a phantasmagoria of gore he rested not much. This is marathon writing... and therefore it conveys much of someone's inherent id though here thankfully the superego is likewise preserved and alive and kicking.

The setup is this: four rich deviates plan and then have a 120-day orgy at Chateau Silling in the outskirts of Paris. They take young boys, young girls, their wives, four experienced whores and eight sodomites (picked because of... well, you can imagine [*cough* size *cough:]). The acts of sex become acts of impassioned violence (fecal matter, urine, blood, dismemberment, incest, torture devices all make full appearances!), and even the taboos you once thought as the most awful and heinous are here, and they are shattered at once by the ones that follow it as the list grows and grows to 600 total acts of "passion." This is one impressive catalogue, one that dares you to keep going because you know damn well it will end SUPER BAD for the innocents. And there is always this lingering thought: will the psychotic villains get away with it?

Characters are interchangeable and the titular act is everyday practiced. There is wit and fantasy and some truly sadistic (........DUH!!!!!) occurences that make you sick to your stomach. (Like I said--not for everybody.)

Sadomasochism's bible.

This is true horror: that someone had the ingenuity to make an encyclopedic list of sexual terrors and deadly taboos. That a man such as the Marquis actually existed and made lovers embrace each other in love or in terror...

This is a MUST READ & A TRUE EXPERIENCE.
You simply won't find anything that comes anywhere near its baffling insanity and true psychotic intelligence.(less)

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Mar 18, 2009 Jaime rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: everyone should read this to understand people better.

A party trick I play with this book is to give it to some unsuspecting person, and have them turn to any random page and read an excerpt out loud to the room. Every page is filled with vile and disgusting images of sexuality and violence.

It is highly disturbing and extremely immoral. If the Marquis wasn't such a fine writer, I could imagine this book being banned.

The reason this book has stood the test of time is because it forces you to look inside yourself and see the evil that is there within...more

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May 17, 2012 Peter Brooks rated it 3 of 5 stars

de Sade's unfortunate reputation goes before him. Certainly none of his books are ones that you'd recommend to a maiden aunt. Part of their reputation is well earned.

However, it is, I think, a pity to dismiss him simply as a pornographer. His books are an unusual read, but are stimulating. His fierce anti-clericism is refreshing, if, as with most of what he says, rather on the extreme level.

What I find most informative, though, are his discussions of morality, ethics and government. de Sade was...more

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Jul 18, 2012 Katsumi rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: unsorted

120 days is shocking, horrifying -- disgusting. This is pretty well universally agreed upon. This in itself says quite a lot. We live in a world where "shocking" has lost much of its meaning. Yet the Marquis De Sade continues to shock our jaded, supposedly unshockable sensibilities; if we want to read this book well, it's worth asking ourselves why.

120 Days is not only the story of four men who act out their sick, abusive fantasies, but of four men who employ storytellers to "entertain" them --...more

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Apr 04, 2011 Todd Crawford rated it 5 of 5 stars

What's more shocking than the exploits of the novel's libertine protagonists is Sade's philosophy which precedes his time with musings to make Freud jealous long before his term. This book is not written for the casual reader, or many people at all, but rather the cancers on the face of the planet such as de Sade himself, who live Nietzsche's laws to the fullest, and expect nothing of life but to usurp it and its inhabitants of all pleasure. Although it is a book that I thoroughly enjoyed, it is...more

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Dec 11, 2012 Julian rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed, french, 18th-century

My plan with this work was to read only the introductory essay by Simone de Beauvoir and The 120 days of Sodom. The introductory essay by de Beauvoir is great, but in the end, after reading de Sade, I think she is taken in by de Sade's efforts at self-delusion.

As for de Sade, I finally decided to read him because he has been hailed as a forerunner of transgressive literature. De Sade is turned on by the act of transgression but he is hardly a forerunner of such works as Crime and Punishment, Lol...more My plan with this work was to read only the introductory essay by Simone de Beauvoir and The 120 days of Sodom. The introductory essay by de Beauvoir is great, but in the end, after reading de Sade, I think she is taken in by de Sade's efforts at self-delusion.

As for de Sade, I finally decided to read him because he has been hailed as a forerunner of transgressive literature. De Sade is turned on by the act of transgression but he is hardly a forerunner of such works as Crime and Punishment, Lolita, Requiem for a Dream and Fight Club. He is a forerunner of a lot of creepy writing on the internet.

I thought that I would get a perverted erudite 18th century version of the Story of O. What I got was sadistic pornography, which I suppose should not have surprised me.

There are theoretical parts to his writings, and they hold some interest in seeing how philosophical ideas and education in general can be perverted for self-justification of the unjustifiable. However, Lolita is much more interesting for this despite the fact that it is fiction. I don't find his ideas interesting except in this regard, because they quickly descend into internal inconsistencies. Fundamentally, he is just trying to hide from himself that even by the low low standards of an 18th century French aristocrat he was still considered a monster.

De Sade writes well and is well versed in literature and philosophy, but his writing is not really even erotica it is just very erudite and screwed up pornography. I don't think that the difference between erotica and pornography is a difference in intent, which is in both cases to arouse. Nor do I think that the difference is in the sex acts depicted. The difference is in the way the individual is depicted. In pornography the people are objects and they are defined by their sexual characteristics. In erotica the characters are defined more broadly and their eroticism comes from the fact that it is subjects engaging in sexual acts. De Sade is a clever pornographer, but that is all.

Whether to read him becomes then a simple question of whether he turns you on. To which I say: "Ick. No."

Abandoned.(less)

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Sep 14, 2012 Isabella Diana rated it 5 of 5 stars

Oh guys I will speak in french because my english is very bad, but I really like this book and I assume it! J'ai vraiment adoré ce livre, on voit bien la mentalité d'un psychopathe sexuel enfermé dans une prison ou il ne peut accéder à ses orgies quotidiennes. Ce livre est une sorte de défoulement de sa pensée , comme si il vomissait toutes ses envies à travers sa plume. Faut penser que ce livre a été écrit en prison où est-ce qu'il n'avait que sa pensée et ses fantasmes pour se ...réconforter.F...more

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Jan 05, 2013 xDEAD ENDx rated it 5 of 5 stars

The disgusting stories De Sade tells truly outshine the more contemporaneous authors trying to do the same (Palahniuk especially, but also Ballard, Bataille, etc.). A good reminder why one should hesitate to extoll crime for its own sake. While I have some level of appreciation for the libertines' anti-lawful nature, their ethics still exist within a judicial framework. While most of the fetishistic acts can be hastily condemned due to lack of consent, I am left critically thinking about my rela...more

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Justin I really liked '120 days of Sodom' a lot when I read it (I haven't rated it because I haven't read the other writings in it). Its a shame it wasn't fi...more
Jan 05, 2013 07:04pm

xDEAD ENDx In some ways the incompleteness of it adds to the awe. Written in thirty-seven (I believe) days on a single sheet of parchment in the Bastille and tho...more
Jan 05, 2013 07:12pm

Justin definitely. Sade in a hilarious melodramatic description of his loss, said that he cried tears of blood, when he realized it may be lost. yeah, one of...more
Jan 05, 2013 07:48pm

Jun 28, 2011 Paul Sheckarski rated it 1 of 5 stars

I imagine it was supposed to have been an epic survey of evil & debauchery but it's just petty and boring. There are a few noteworthy passages which sum up psychopathy and sadism, v. quotable, but the rest of it has an autistically catalogued texture e.g. Mr. A had sex with Mr. B in his anus while Mr. B frigged Ms. C.; the following night Mr. B had sex with Ms. C. in her anus while she frigged Mr. A.

I like framed narratives, and the framing here was promising, but the narratives of each of t...more

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Apr 23, 2012 Ivan rated it 3 of 5 stars

I can say I like it for the ideas and outspokenness, but man, it does read like a WoW/online MMORPG guild accounting book - I mean, sure the author's very precise about fucking and torturing orifices and people (or killing them), number of times, time of the day, who with whom etc. to the point of OCD but after page 50 it really gets boring - like mining for gold in WoW or shooting rats for Exp.
I guess that the most important things here is to understand are that you don't want to find yourself...more

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Feb 05, 2011 Kit Fox rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Bit of a misnomer here. I'd more accurately call it "The 30 Days of PissingShittingandFarting Followed by 90 Days of Inquisition-era Torture Porn." Honestly, this just went from 0 to gross-as-hell in a few pages and stayed that way at the point of sheer and utter monotony. Wasn't even naughty, just boring, unrelenting, and annoying. If this were the only volume of de Sade's works that survived, I think the literary world would've been all, "Yeah, he's a real dirty birdie and not a very good writ...more

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Sep 21, 2009 Ted rated it 2 of 5 stars

It is worthwhile to skim a few passages online to see what the fuss is about. But it is extremely repetitive, so there's no reason to buy the book and actually read it. His prose still has the ability to shock. Even the "Saw" movies owe a debt to him:

"He chains one of the girl's hands and secures the chain to the wall; he leaves her thus, without food. Near her is a large knife, and just beyond her reach sits an excellent meal: if she wishes to eat, she has but to cut through her forearm; otherw...more

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Oct 06, 2011 Libby rated it 3 of 5 stars

"The 120 Days of Sodom," boasts the broadest collection of disgusting sexual practices and perversions that I have ever read. However, that's exactly what de Sade set out to write, so that's hardly a damning statement. The gist is simple- four powerful, dissolute men abduct a group of beautiful children, hire various male and female prostitutes, and lock themselves and their daughters in a citadel where they, guided by the day's prostitute-storyteller, ritualistically perform as many outrages as...more "The 120 Days of Sodom," boasts the broadest collection of disgusting sexual practices and perversions that I have ever read. However, that's exactly what de Sade set out to write, so that's hardly a damning statement. The gist is simple- four powerful, dissolute men abduct a group of beautiful children, hire various male and female prostitutes, and lock themselves and their daughters in a citadel where they, guided by the day's prostitute-storyteller, ritualistically perform as many outrages as humanly possible on the children and their own daughters.

De Sade wrote this book while mouldering away in the Bastille, and it shows, given the prevalence of blasphemy, corruption, sodomy, and vociferous disdain for the laws of man (and decency, for that matter). While this book is largely the product of de Sade's frustrated libido and imagination- indeed, there are more than a few sexual acts that are physically impossible and/or potentially deadly to the practitioner- it's fair to say that he was not entirely inexperienced in criminal passions, given that by the time of his imprisonment, de Sade had been banned from every brothel in town.

What made this book interesting to me is de Sade's philosophically slippery, ironic narrator, but also the humor inherent in a bunch of libertines so devoted to the idea of complete freedom that they have to impose strict rules and schedules in order to experience it. I get the feeling that while de Sade was writing things that turned him on in concept, he also took great pleasure in dragging the institutions his protagonists represent into the mud- the judge, the bishop, the aristocrat, and the banker, only two of which can abide the sight of lady bits and all of whom are enthusiastic sodomites. It's a scathing indictment of those whose social mores and laws led to his imprisonment.

The other pieces in the book are milder examples of awful things being done, almost exclusively to women, either by fate or by libertines, which exemplifies the biggest problem I have with de Sade. While he appeals to the mind with calls for freedom, in the greater scope of his life, it comes across as semantic justification for getting off on exploitation and cruelty. I don't think we need to burn de Sade, as the title of Simone de Beauvoir's seminal essay asks (printed as an introduction to the edition), but we do need to take his philosophical arguments with a very large grain of salt.(less)

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Mar 24, 2013 Christopher Roberts rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror

So I am giving this two stars because there are other things in the book that are interesting and worth reading, if for no other reason but to get a perspective on De Sade's thinking.

The best thing in the book, by far, is Simone Beauvoir's essay, "Should We Burn De Sade" where she effectively makes De Sade seem ten times more interesting than actually reading him would be. De Sade's whole thing is that morality is a sham and that the seeking of pleasure is the only thing worth anything in the w...more So I am giving this two stars because there are other things in the book that are interesting and worth reading, if for no other reason but to get a perspective on De Sade's thinking.

The best thing in the book, by far, is Simone Beauvoir's essay, "Should We Burn De Sade" where she effectively makes De Sade seem ten times more interesting than actually reading him would be. De Sade's whole thing is that morality is a sham and that the seeking of pleasure is the only thing worth anything in the world. He also, or at least this is what I got from Florville and Couval, thinks that guilt and virtue are only things that lead to unhappiness. Once you understand this there isn't much of a surprise to his writing. He is basically hammering the same simplistic idea into your skull over and over again.

The 120 Days of Sodom is De Sade trying to shock with every chapter and then trying to top himself with the next. He starts off at a pretty extreme place, even for the contemporary reader, so you can only get worse from there. The book is merely a series of debauched sexual encounters between characters that are merely interchangeable.

De Sade does have a sophisticated wit and occasionally some genuine satire peaks through in his writing. He knows he is being offensive and by reading his work, he is asking you to analyze what it is about what he is writing that offends. There is a genuine philosophical point to it all, but did he need over four hundred pages (that is how long the main story is) to get there?

My answer would be "no." I actually became numb to the proceedings after a while and stopped being shocked. In fact, this didn't take that long. I think things stopped being shocking around day five or six, because when you start off with pedophilia, snot eating and piss drinking, there isn't a whole lot you can go beyond that to be gross. De Sade tries but he can't really do it.

I am slightly interested in reading Justine after this, but I fear that will also be disappointing. De Sade is not a good writer, in the sense that his work has anything meaningful to say. What makes him interesting is that he has a perspective that is so seldom presented in fiction and therefore there is s novelty to his work. (less)

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May 11, 2013 Namfoodle rated it 2 of 5 stars

Starts off as an interesting read, but turns out to be a mere monotonous curiosity. The 120 Days of Sodom itself gets really repetitious and dull very fast. There are some amount of Sade's philosophy scattered about, which make it somewhat interesting and it starts to get truly horrific and disturbing in the third and fourth part, but had Sade finished this (which would then be about 2000 pages long) it would have been very tedious to get through. This kind of maximalist perversity and cruelty o...more

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Nov 15, 2012 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars

If you are reading this book it's because you know exactly what it is so let's divest ourselves of discussing it as a novel you might pick up for a fun little read on an airplane. It's as absurd as you can possibly imagine and typically reminded me of being 13 and watching B slasher movies that try to think of novel ways to shock you. Of course it's outrageous but it is also repetitive and I found myself skimming a lot of the middle and end storytelling sessions because they began to become blan...more

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Jun 22, 2012 Rachel rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: 18th-century, the-romantic-agony

(This was not exactly new reading for me, but I just wrote an essay largely on it, hence the 'date read' above.

Also, trigger warning. I quote from Sade, albeit briefly. Quote is in italics, so you can skip it if you so choose.)

Sometimes I think of myself in opposition to Sade.

This is too simple, of course. I can and have defended Sade on a variety of occasions, in a variety of different contexts; I don't think he should be censored, and in fact am quite glad that his works have been published an...more

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About Marquis de Sade

Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade was a French aristocrat, revolutionary politician, philosopher, and writer famous for his libertine sexuality and lifestyle. His works include novels, short stories, plays, dialogues, and political tracts; in his lifetime some were published under his own name, while others appeared anonymously and Sade denied being their author. He is best known for his...more

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Justine, Philosophy in the Bedroom, and Other Writings

Philosophy in the Boudoir or The Immoral Mentors

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“Sexual pleasure is, I agree, a passion to which all others are subordinate but in which they all unite.” — 88 people liked it

“Beauty belongs to the sphere of the simple, the ordinary, whilst ugliness is something extraordinary, and there is no question but that every ardent imagination prefers in lubricity, the extraordinary to the commonplace” — 45 people liked it

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