The Marquis de Sade and Angela Carter

Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade (2 June 1740 – 2 December 1814) was a French aristocrat and writer famous for his libertine sexuality and lifestyle. His works include novels, short stories, plays, 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 erotic novels, which combined philosophical discourse with pornography, depicting bizarre sexual fantasies with an emphasis on violence, criminality, and blasphemy against the Catholic Church. He was a proponent of extreme freedom unrestrained by morality, religion or law. Sade was incarcerated in various prisons and in an insane asylum for about 32 years of his life. Many of his works were written in prison. The term "sadism" is derived from his name.

The Marquis de Sade wrote many books, one of which was called Justine- it is about a girl who strives to be virtuous but is nothing but abused, used for sex. Her sister is corrupt but ends up receiving less abuse than her ‘virtuous’ sister. Sade’s books were written to shock and make the reader question conventional moral values.

In her most often discussed nonfiction work, The Sadeian Woman: An Exercise in Cultural History (1979), Carter examines the two feminine stereo- types of pornographic literature: the dangerous temptress and the innocent victim. Carter argues that the writing of the Marquis de Sade, whose characters Justine and Juliette embodied these stereotypes, can be read as feminist satire of the sexual roles men create for women. Ultimately, however, Carter finds de Sade's quest for the limits of acceptable behaviour a failure, believing that he succumbed to an acceptance of traditional sexual roles. Carter's nonfiction illuminates many of the themes and ideas about the dark side of human nature and society that she sets forth in her fiction.