Donatien Alphonse François Sade Donatien Alphonse François de Sade
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Marquis de Sade, born Donatien Alphonse François de Sade in 1740, was a French writer and libertine whose works explored extreme depravity. He spent years in prison and asylums, including after being arrested by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1801 for writing Juliette. His name inspired the term sadism, coined by psychiatrist Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing in 1886. He died in 1814 at the Charenton asylum.
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Born on June 2, 1740 in Paris to Count Jean Baptiste François Joseph de Sade and Countess Marie Eleonore de Maillé, Donatien Alphonse François de Sade was a rich nobleman from birth. His parents intended to name him Louis-Aldonse-Donatien, but a baptismal error gave him the name Donatien-Alphonse-François. At Paris’s Lycée Louis-le-Grand, he received a liberal education that shaped his iconoclastic views.
Sade’s writing career flourished during his imprisonment. His most infamous works, Justine and Juliette, were written in the 1790s, filled with graphic depictions of sexual violence and blasphemy. He was arrested in 1801 on Napoleon’s orders after his novel Juliette shocked the emperor, leading to his imprisonment without trial in Sainte-Pélagie Prison and later the harsh Bicêtre Asylum.
Sade married Renee Pelagie de Montreuil on May 17, 1763, after being pressured by his family. He had three children: Louis Marie de Sade born 1767, Donatien Claude Armand de Sade born 1769, and Madeleine Laure de Sade born 1771. His scandalous libertine existence included an affair with his wife’s sister Anne-Prospère and repeated procurement of young prostitutes at his castle in Lacoste.
Sade’s name became the root of the term sadism, coined by psychiatrist Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing in 1886 in his book Psychopathia Sexualis. Surrealist artists such as Man Ray, Guillaume Apollinaire, and Paul Éluard admired Sade as a symbol of absolute freedom. His books were burned for obscenity, yet they influenced modern explorations of transgression and sexuality. He is remembered as the Divine Marquis who gave his name to sexual cruelty.
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Imperious, Angry, Furious, Extreme in All Things, with a Disturbance in the Moral Imagination Unlike Any the World Has Ever Known There You Have Me in a Nutshell: and One More Thing, Kill Me or Take Me as I Am, for I Will Not Change.
Tolerance Is the Virtue of the Weak.
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Three children: Louis Marie de Sade born 27 August 1767, Donatien Claude Armand de Sade born 27 June 1769, and Madeleine Laure de Sade born 7 April 1771.
A cast of his skull is on display in the Musée de l’Homme in Paris, France.
His books were burned for being obscene.
The term sadism has its origins in his name. The term, defined as deriving sexual pleasure from inflicting pain, was coined by German psychiatrist Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing in his book Psychopathia Sexualis in 1886, 72 years after the Marquis’ death.
Narrowly escaped being sentenced to the guillotine.
His second son, Donatien Claude Armand de Sade, dropped the Donatien from his name as an adult so as not to be associated with his infamous father.
Managed to convince his wife that Laure was a good middle name for their daughter Madeleine Laure de Sade despite the fact that it was the first name of the woman he almost married instead.
Was engaged to two women simultaneously in 1763: Renee-Palagie de Montreuil, whom he married, and Mademoiselle Laure de Lauris. Although he favored de Lauris, his family pressured him into marriage with de Montreuil because she was part of a wealthy family.
Worked at one time as a magistrate.
His parents intended to name him Louis-Aldonse-Donatien, but a mistake on his baptismal certificate led to him being named Donatien-Alphonse-François.
In 1801, Napoleon Bonaparte ordered the arrest of the anonymous author of Justine and Juliette, expressing outrage after he had been sent a copy of the latter novel by Sade. Sade was arrested at his publisher’s office and imprisoned without trial; first in the Sainte-Pélagie Prison and, following allegations that he had tried to seduce young fellow prisoners there, in the harsh Bicêtre Asylum.
Sade lived a scandalous libertine existence and repeatedly procured young prostitutes as well as employees of both sexes in his castle in Lacoste.
He was accused of blasphemy, which was considered a serious offense. His behavior also included an affair with his wife’s sister, Anne-Prospère, who had come to live at the castle.
In the realm of visual arts, many surrealist artists had an interest in the Divine Marquis. Sade was celebrated in surrealist periodicals, and feted by figures such as Guillaume Apollinaire, Paul Éluard, and Maurice Heine; Man Ray admired Sade because he and other surrealists viewed him as an ideal of freedom.
His parents were Count Jean-Baptiste-Joseph-François de Sade and Countess Marie-Eleonore de Sade née de Maille de Carman.
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