Ostroeuropa wrote:Liriena wrote:Torture, murder and other such horrors. I've never read any of his work, but if summaries (and that Pasolini film adaptation) are anything to go by, "extreme" doesn't even begin to describe how much awfulness he managed to cram into his work.
I've read a bit of it, flipping the book open to a random chapter and giving it a go yields some pretty interesting stories.
One interviewing a madam type and her story about organizing a kidnapping of a child to force them into sex slavery for a rich client who didn't want anyone else, alongside the hired hand and his recounting of how the kidnapping went, accounts from prostitutes describing their weirdest clients, some clergy recounting confessions with details suitable obscured, etc.
I think the preface of the book was an extract from a discussion by some folk on whether he should be executed for it, since it portrayed his countries society as full of depravity, rape, sex, sin, etc, which naturally puts you on his side a bit.
I think that one particularly ruffled feathers because he refused to say if the interviews were real.
Some of them were odd, like one prostitute recounting a local noble who wanted people to fart in his mouth, and the like, which seem out of place among all the rape and murder and shit. (sometimes literal), but for their time, would have been scandalous I assume, rather than merely a repulsive quirk.
For the most part though, they aren't anything special. Scandalous for their time perhaps.
I don't know. Even by today's standards, I don't think Sade's work is likely to get widespread acceptance or appreciation. We have become somewhat more accustomed to the existence of extremely violent and repulsive cultural products, I guess, but I feel like actual acceptance of stuff on that level is still very much a niche thing and the content is still largely compartmentalized into a specific genre. A Serbian Film is barely tolerated and seems to be more of a vaguely understood reference than a widely seen film.
