Sade: From Materialism to Pornography by Caroline Warman (review)

Abstract

992 Reviews Fauskevag's focus is on Sadian subjectivism. Sade's heroes, he says, are engaged in 'self-idolatry', with no obligation to others, to the extent that the other is reduced to nothingness (p. 17). Subjective freedom, however, is not absolute, because the Sadian hero is aware of, and submissive to, nature as material process. The Sadian notion of freedom, he argues, is that of a threshold state in which a finitebeing seeks infinitesatisfaction in specific pleasures (p. 54). Quasi-psychological notions such as 'apathy' and 'imagination', both terms that pose difficulties for modern critics, are helpfully relocated as terms in eighteenth-century philosophical debate (pp. 77-90). And quasi-sociological notions are also revisited: Fauskevag describes the notorious Societe des Amis du Crime, in Histoire de Juliette, as a 'rebarbarization' of relation? ships between individuals which produces a 'non-civilized' community (p. 143). The finalchapter of the book (pp. 145-79) will be of interest to literary scholars forthe way in which it relates questions of style, with a host of examples provided, to thematic issues raised earlier. Fauskevag concludes by emphasizing what he calls Sade's 'nonanthropocentric ' anthropology. Overall, this essay is likely to be quite demanding for scholars whose primary interest is in literature, but particularly rewarding for those with an interest in the history of philosophy. University of Queensland Peter Cryle Sade: From Materialism to Pornography. By Caroline Warman. (SVEC 2002:01) Oxford: Voltaire Foundation. 2002. x+178 pp. ISBN 0-7294-0773-x. Throughout the nineteenth century, and for most of the twentieth, Sade was a focus for Romantic and post-Romantic hagiography. It was long customary not to analyse the recurring features of his texts but to glory in the very fact of their existence, as unprecedented manifestations of genius. Recent decades have seen the waning of this cult, and more attention is now being paid to textual analysis ofthe Sadian ceuvre. But even the most textually minded critics have been inclined to read Sade's work forwhat they see as its fascinating mix ofthemes and discourses. Almost no one expects of him, it seems, that he be a coherent thinker: he must be one of the few canonical authors read primarily for their self-contradiction. Against this background, it is interesting to note that there have recently appeared a few studies which claim to show the over? all philosophical coherence of Sade's work. I am aware of three: Philippe Mengue's L'Ordresadien: loi et narration dans la philosophie de Sade (Paris: Kime, 1996), SveinEirik Fauskevag's Sade, ou la tentation totalitaire: etude sur I'anthropologie litteraire dans 'La Nouvelle Justine'et luHistoire de Juliette' (Paris: Champion, 2001), and Car? oline Warman's book, the latest and best of them. Rather than resorting to the notion of Sadian humour, which has been vastly over-used as a rationale for incoherence, all three take Sade seriously as a thinker. As Warman says, 'Sade takes his work and position very seriously, also wishing to be taken seriously himself (pp. 85-86). Studies like those of Mengue and Fauskevag are likely to arouse a degree of suspicion . While they reject out of hand the hermeneutic recklessness displayed by hagiographers, might they not themselves be prone, one wonders, to gather every detail under the umbrella of a single explicative principle? Warman herself is quite reserved when discussing Mengue's thesis. She is sceptical about his claim to find throughout what he calls ia logique souterraine des fantasmes' (p. 2) and to 'locate the kernel of Sadean philosophy round an absence of meaning' (p. 117). Her conclu? sion carries 'a reminder that Sade cannot be "explained" completely, and moreover that an explanation such as [her own] may not even be able to help much with the difficultiesthat this text still presents' (p. 170). Mengue's ambition, she suggests, may have been misplaced, and that is perhaps why almost no Sade scholars have taken up MLR, 98.4, 2003 993 his work: he 'tries to systematise Sade's thinking while not taking fully into account the materialism of his day' (pp. 17-18). Fauskevag's recent text is not mentioned by Warman, and it must be noted...