Marquis de Sade - The 120 Days of Sodom

"The 120 Days of Sodom" by Marquis de Sade, published by Wilder Publications in 2009, is a narrative centered around four affluent men who capture 24 mostly teenage victims, subjecting them to sexual torture while listening to stories from elderly prostitutes. The manuscript was composed during Sade's imprisonment in the Bastille and was lost during the storming of the Bastille, which led Sade to express deep sorrow over its loss. This work is regarded by many as Sade's most significant achievement. Donatien Alphonse François, known as Marquis de Sade(1740-1814), was a French aristocrat, revolutionary politician, philosopher, and writer, recognized for his libertine sexuality and lifestyle. His prolific output included novels, short stories, plays, dialogues, and political writings, with some published under his name and others anonymously. Sade's erotic works often blended philosophical discussions with pornography, exploring themes of violence, criminality, and blasphemy against the Catholic Church. He advocated for extreme freedom, unconstrained by moral, religious, or legal boundaries, leading to the coining of the terms "sadism" and "sadist" from his name. Throughout his life, Sade spent approximately 32 years in various prisons and an asylum, including 11 years in Paris, mostly in the Bastille. He also endured a month in the Conciergerie, two years in a fortress, a year in Madelonnettes, three years in Bicêtre, a year in Sainte-Pélagie, and 13 years in the Charenton asylum. During the French Revolution, he served as an elected delegate to the National Convention, with many of his writings produced while incarcerated. In psychoanalytic theory, it is suggested that children exhibit perversions or are referred to as "polymorphous perverts."