Title: Sade : from materialism to pornography /
Authors: Warman, Caroline.
Publisher: Voltaire Foundation,
Year: 2002
Subjects: Sade, Criticism and interpretation.; Authors, French; Materialism France History; Sex in literature
Contents: 1. Sade and materialism since 1945 -- 2. Sensationist materialism: system and technique. Sensationist materialism: a working concept. The theories of sensation-based knowledge. Techniques and traps -- 3. Persuasion: the philosophe's rhetorical profile. Introduction. Inflammatory rhetoric. The rhetoric of insults. 'Je". Access to the truth/nature. The philosopher magician. The web of logic. Laying down the law. 'Auteur' as divine being. Conclusion -- 4. Sade's system -- 5. 'Comme fondu dans le fonds commun': clandestine and libertine ingredients in the Sadean melting pot. Sade's reading. Sade's use of his reading. The jewels of vitue: Sade's claim to the legacy of materialism. Imagery within argument: 'Vautres-toi, comme font les porcs [...]'. Argument within imagery: virtue's jewels. The story the footnote told. Clandestine literature. Libertine literature. Alchemical theories of matter in materialism. Transmutation. The violent sexual narrative of alchemical texts -- 6. Literality. Literality: an introduction. The literal interpretation of imagery and figurative language. The literalisation of ideas. Literal translation. Amplification. Absolutes and superlatives. The system of absolutes. Conclusion -- 7. The drama of matter. Attraction. Repulsion. Opposites -- active and passive. Elastic versus brittle bodies -- an extension of the active and passive attributes. Electrical, hydraulic and chemical models of the body. The electrical stage. The chemical stage. The hydraulic alternative. Materialist regeneration -- Conclusion.