“Mais où est le cul?”: Life and Form in Sade's Les Infortunes de la vertu and La Nouvelle Justine

Abstract

I borrow Diderot's distinction between “esquisse” and “tableau” to explore the formal evolution of Sade's writing in relation to his representation of political economies. In comparing a specific scene in Les Infortunes de la vertu (1787) and La Nouvelle Justine (1799), I suggest that in the final version of Justine's story, amplification blurs generic categories and limits readerly involvement in the narrative. Sade's sketch, in contrast with his overblown pornographic tale of social chaos, provides an unmediated, livelier, and altogether more original commentary on social relations in the eighteenth century. Unburdened by archetypes and repetition, Sade's first version of Justine's misfortunes draws the reader's attention to the realist aspects of the story and to a surprisingly nuanced reflection on the nature of human rationality.