Caveat emptor (literally translated: let the buyer beware). – Latin Proverb
We monsters are necessary also. – Marquis de Sade
You may be able to conquer her love of God, but you will not overcome her fear of the Devil; and when you hold your mistress in your arms and feel her heart beating, it will be in fear, not love. – Les Liaisons dangereuses (1782) by Pierre Cholderos de Laclos
Imperious, choleric, irascible, extreme in everything, with a dissolute imagination the like of which has never been seen, atheistic to the point of fanaticism, there you have me in a nutshell, and kill me again or take me as I am, for I shall not change. – Marquis de Sade
Warning, very much a content warning, Napoleon I Bonaparte, in depth discussion of real life state sanctioned violence through out European history, biphobia, bisexual erasure, monosexism, heterosexism, real life and fictionalized child abuse, violence permitted by various Christian sects and churches throughout European history, French colonial violence in Haiti, Algeria and other various places in the African continent, fictionalized violence against women and there narratively justified reaction in kind, real life cycles of violence, homophobia and misogyny.
Marquis de Sade, or his full state and church-given name, Donatien Alphonse François de Sade or, according to himself, Citizen Donatien de Sade. I will be brutally honest this is neither apologise nor is it unique praise, indeed to apologize for a historical figure especially a pale European merely illustrates how little one knows of humanity, culture, philosophy, world history, historiography and how such narratives and falsehoods of knowing are constructed; what we do not know we do not know as the tangible evidence of the events or alleged events that occurred are as many things in world history unfortunately lost to us forever. However, how we, as individuals and as a society, examine and reexamine his notions, philosophical or fictional, illustrate far more about us than they ever will about Monsieur Citizen Donatien de Sade.
Marquis de Sade, or his full state and church-given name, Donatien Alphonse François de Sade or, according to himself, Citizen Donatien de Sade. I will be brutally honest this is neither apologise nor is it unique praise, indeed to apologize for a historical figure especially a pale European merely illustrates how little one knows of humanity, culture, philosophy, world history, historiography and how such narratives and falsehoods of knowing are constructed; what we do not know we do not know as the tangible evidence of the events or alleged events that occurred are as many things in world history unfortunately lost to us forever. However, how we, as individuals and as a society, examine and reexamine his notions, philosophical or fictional, illustrate far more about us than they ever will about Monsieur Citizen Donatien de Sade.
Let us begin with that which is plain to any of us, that taking up with a thousand books can see. The fictional literary works of Sade inspired his contemporary and rival, Pierre Chodledos de Laclos, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, William Godwin, Baron George Gordon Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Angela Carter, Simone de Beauvoir, Max Horkheimer, Theodor W. Adorno, Peter Weiss, Octavia E. Butler, Tananarive Due, Anne Rice, Shirley Jackson and many more and for that I believe the only phrase we can say in response is ‘thank you very much.’
It is also crucial to understand that, much like Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Baron George Gordon Byron, Mary Wollstonecraft, William Godwin, and Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. Authorities could imprison someone without a jury or trial until the latter half of the French Revolution, provided a persistent relative demanded a lettre de cachet for them. Until the French Revolution, authorities expected and deliberately made public state-sanctioned violence, including drawing and quartering, burning, and much worse. As a matter of objective fact, the last men executed in France, condemned rather gruesomely to the flames on the charge of ‘sodomy’ (that is, under 18th-century French Catholic doctrine, homosexual acts and being caught doing so) were Jean Diot and Bruno Lenoir, put to death on a predetermined trial and court in the year 1750.
One cannot discuss the French without discussing, alas, Napoleon I Bonaparte, who rose to the status of Emperor and first citizen following the fallout of the aptly named Reign of Terror and the guillotine eating its own young and went on to deliberately and methodically be the source of woe for Haiti, Algeria, the African continent, and the whole of Europe. Notably however not Sade and Laclos as outside of their libertinage were renowned in their times for being impartial judges within the realm of human fallibility in their respective provinces nowhere near the city of Paris; thus with good reason sitting in multiple revolutionary assemblies, however, when the time of the aptly named terror came they not only negotiated their in laws, other impoverished relatives and many would be victims of the guillotine; most of whom were poor or if nothing else not well enough to pay out for their freedom but they adamantly argued with and opposed the idea of subjecting the general population to the guillotine. Indeed, despite their then non-normative atheism or agnosticism, they vehemently opposed the violence enacted in the revolutionary campaigns against the Catholic Church and many provincial civil wars.
For those unfamiliar with the (sometimes frightening) realm of European history, it is not negotiable to internalize the fact that just as Percy Bysshe Shelley, George Gordon Byron, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Octavia E. Butler and Anne Rice operate based on a thought experiment. The reason the events in the 120 Days of Sodom are in fiction committed by a priest, aristocrats and overseen by their women who fear the worst outcome are as Laclos’s Valmont and Byron’s Manfred is a pointed self aware criticism of himself, his social class and those within it who do nothing of substance or consequence with the power they possess and in la philosophie dans le boudoir the characters subjected to the worst outcome are those who deny access to information for others and deny themselves freedom. We cannot separate Juliette from Justine. The blonde, blue-eyed, rosary-praying woman, Justine, faces accusations and unfair condemnation for actions her dark-haired and ambiguously darker-featured sister, Juliette, deliberately contrasts with and intentionally challenges the status quo for, while Juliette receives rewards for her intellect, cunning, and godlessness. Like all writers of horror or otherwise, if one walks away in disgust, that is the intention. The Catholic Church and other absolute extremists continue to perpetuate such horrors in real life, even now, and in condemning the libertine, you only illustrate his point and why humanity needs more libertines. Indeed, it is deeply ironic to condemn him, as he never claimed to be ‘moral’ at all, and in condemning his behaviour, you only show how little you know of them.
In conclusion, whilst I certainly would never call the Marquis de Sade heroic, as even he would never wish for such a thing. To take him out of context, misinterpret him and subject him to such unimaginative things as biphobia, bisexual erasure, homophobia, and your own narrow cultural view of good and bad is of great disservice to him and others of his sort and only shows one’s contempt for others, lack of compassion towards others not like you and how easy you are as an individual to misdirect and mislead.
Works Cited
Shelley-Godwin Archive, https://shelleygodwinarchive.org/. Accessed 4 June 2026.
Atheism. Internet Encylopedia of Philosophy, https://iep.utm.edu/atheism/. Accessed 4 June 2026.
“The Bisexual Manifesto.” The Bay Area Bisexual Network, 1990, https://bimanifesto.carrd.co/. Accessed 4 June 2026.
Butler, Octavia. Octavia E. Butler: Kindred, Fledgling, Collected Stories (LOA #338). Edited by Gerry Canavan and Nisi Shawl, Library of America, 2020. Accessed 4 June 2026.
Byron, Lord George Gordon, and George Gordon Byron. Manfred: A Dramatic Poem of the Byronic Hero. Wilder Publications, 2009. Accessed 4 June 2026.
Carter, Angela. The Sadeian Woman. Little, Brown, 2006. Accessed 4 June 2026.
De Sade, Marquis. The 120 Days of Sodom: French Classic. Wilder Publications, 2008. Accessed 4 June 2026.
de Sade, Marquis. Gothic Tales. Translated by Margaret Crosland, Pushkin Press, 2024. Accessed 4 June 2026.
de Sade, Marquis. Philosophy in the Boudoir: Or, The Immoral Mentors (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition). Translated by Joachim Neugroschel, Penguin Publishing Group, 2006.
de Sade, Marquis. Three by Marquis de Sade: Justine, the 120 Days of Sodom, Florville and Courval. Wilder Publications, 2008. Accessed 4 June 2026.
De Sade, Marquis, and Guillaume Apollinaire. Stories, Tales, & Fables. Translated by R. J. Dent, Contra Mundum Press, 2025.
Diderot, Denis. Encyclopédie. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/d/did/. Accessed 4 June 2026.
Duffy, Nick. France: Plaque unveiled for last men executed for being gay. PinkNews, 2014, https://www.thepinknews.com/2014/10/17/france-plaque-unveiled-for-last-men-executed-for-being-gay/. Accessed June 4 2026.
French History Podcast. Jean Diot and Bruno Lenoir. https://www.facebook.com/TheFrenchHistoryPodcast/posts/jean-diot-and-bruno-lenoir-were-the-last-persons-executed-in-france-as-punishmen/1253914506739622/. Accessed June 4 2026.
Gray, Francine du Plessix. At Home with the Marquis de Sade: A Life. Simon & Schuster, 1998. Accessed 4 June 2026.
Grey History. Yesterday’s Heroes. https://greyhistory.com/84-yesterdays-heroes/. Accessed 4 June 2026.
Historical Marker Database. Bruno Lenoir and Jean Diot. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=203371. Accessed June 4 2026.
Horkheimer, Max, and Theodor Adorno. Dialectic of Enlightenment. Edited by Gunzelin Noeri, translated by Gunzelin Noeri, Stanford University Press, 2002. Accessed 4 June 2026.
“Jean Diot and Bruno Lenoir.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Diot_and_Bruno_Lenoir. Accessed June 4.
Jean Diot and Bruno Lenoir. Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tetu-09-06-2017-Jean-Diot-Bruno-Lenoir.jpg. Accessed June 4 2026.
KYNK 101. Encylopedia of Kink & BDSM. https://kynk101.com/kynklopedia. Accessed 4 June 2026.
Laclos, Pierre Choderlos de. Les Liaisons Dangereuses Owc:Pb. Edited by Douglas Parmée, translated by Douglas Parmée, OUP Oxford, 2008.
Linton, Dr. Marisa, and Grey History. https://greyhistory.com/85-virtue-friendship-and-terror-with-dr-marisa-linton/.
Mahon, Alyce. The Marquis de Sade and the Avant-Garde. Princeton University Press, 2025. Accessed 4 June 2026.
Mill, John Stuart. On liberty. Dover Publications, 2002. Accessed 4 June 2026.
Noble, Thomas F. X., et al. Western Civilization: Beyond Boundaries, Volume II: Since 1560. Cengage Learning, 2012.
Phillips, John. The Marquis de Sade: A Very Short Introduction. OUP Oxford, 2005. Accessed 4 June 2026.
Plaque commémorative Jean DIOT Bruno LENOIR – Paris 2e – 67 rue Montorguei. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Plaque_comm%C3%A9morative_Jean_DIOT_Bruno_LENOIR_-_Paris_2e_-_67_rue_Montorgueil.jpeg. Accessed June 4 2026.
Rice, Anne. Interview with the vampire : a novel. Random House Publishing Group, 1976.
Rice, Anne. Lasher. Random House Publishing Group, 1993.
Rice, Anne. The Vampire Lestat. Random House Publishing Group, 1985.
Sade, Marquis de. The Crimes of Love: Heroic and Tragic Tales, Preceded by an Essay on Novels. Translated by David Coward, OUP Oxford, 2008. Accessed 4 June 2026.
Sade, Marquis de. “Dialogue Between a Priest and a Dying Man.” https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/marquis-de-sade-dialogue-between-a-priest-and-a-dying-man.
Sade, Marquis de. Yet Another Effort, Frenchmen, If You Would Become Republicans. https://archive.org/details/yet-another-effort-frenchmen. Accessed June 4 2026.
Sade, Marquis de, and RJ Dent. “The Last Will and Testament of Donatien-Alphonse-François Sade, Man of Letters.” Philosophy Now, 2021. https://philosophynow.org/issues/143/The_Last_Will_and_Testament_of_Donatien-Alphonse-Francois_Sade_Man_of_Letters. Accessed 4 June 2026.
Sawhney, Deepak Narang, editor. Must We Burn Sade? Bloomsbury Academic, 1999. Accessed 4 June 2026.
Schaeffer, Neil. The Marquis de Sade: A Life. Harvard University Press, 2000. Accessed 4 June 2026.
Shelley, Mary. Mathilda. Edited by Deanna P. Koretsky, Oxford University Press, 2025. Accessed 4 June 2026.
Shelley, Percy Bysshe. The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley. Culturea, 2024. Accessed 4 June 2026.
Stanton, Domna C. The Aristocrat as Art: A Study of the Honnête Homme and the Dandy in Seventeenth- and Nineteenth-century French Literature. Columbia University Press, 1980. Accessed 4 June 2026.
Strange, Vivian. 1. THE PASSION OF JUSTINE Episode # 1 [ 2 15 2025]. https://archive.org/details/1.-the-passion-of-justine-episode-1-2-15-2025.
Strange, Vivian. 3. THE PASSION OF JUSTINE Episode # 3 [ 2 24 2025]. https://archive.org/details/3.-the-passion-of-justine-episode-3-2-24-2025. Accessed 4 June 2026.
Strange, Vivian. 2. THE PASSION OF JUSTINE Episode # 2 [ 2 17 2025]. https://archive.org/details/2.-the-passion-of-justine-episode-2-2-17-2025. Accessed 4 June 2026.
Strange, Vivian. WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT SADE ( REMIX) [ 12 31 2024]. https://archive.org/details/we-need-to-talk-about-sade-remix-12-31-2024. Accessed 4 June 2026.
“”The Oldest Nation of Europe.”” A History of Modern Europe, https://ebrary.net/258400/sociology/_the_oldest_nation_europe_#26. Accessed 4 June 2026.
Weiss, Peter. The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade. Dramatic Publishing Company, 1964. Accessed 4 June 2026.
“What was the Chouannerie?” World History Edu. https://worldhistoryedu.com/what-was-the-chouannerie/. Accessed 4 June 2026.
Wilson, Robert Anton. Thirteen Choruses For The Divine Marquis. https://www.alphane.com/raw.htm?marquis.htm. Accessed 4 June 2026.
Witching, White Rose. “Queer Ancestor Spotlight: Jean Diot and Bruno Lenoir.” Queer Ancestor Spotlight. https://www.whiterosewitching.com/blog/queer-ancestor-spotlight-jean-diot-and-bruno-lenoir. Accessed June 4 2026.
Leave a comment