DEATH BY LAUGHTER IN SADE AND MAUPASSANT

Abstract

Sade's Dialogue entre un prêtre et un moribond (1782) and Maupassant's ‘Auprès d'un mort’ (1883) both deal with death in a humorous way. The solemn situations and philosophical tones of these two stories are ‘hijacked’, as it were, by comedy. Both deliver comic relief in a final punch line. The question as to how and why this surprising comic effect functions in both works will be dealt with here. One cannot claim that a link between Sade and Maupassant rests upon intertextuality as such a claim would be unsustainable.1 This comparative study aims to consider parallel themes in relation to the use of comic devices. To begin with, both texts refer to Christian rites concerning death. In Sade's dialogue, a priest comes to administer the last rites to a dying man who is a libertine. ‘Auprès d'un mort’, as the title suggests, presents a traditional funeral vigil. These familiar...