Philosophy in the boudoir is a sort of theatrical
play written by Marquis de Sade in 1795.
The work consists of dialogues occuring during one day in a
boudoir. It narrates the (re-)education of a young and pure
girl by a group of libertines, and describes the worst perversions
in that beautiful 18th-century French writing
style. Only Sade could conjugate the verb foutre at the
imperfect of the subjective (imagine you read "thou shalt fuck me"
in a Shakespeare play).
This education includes both practice and
theory. As for practice, the girl is initiated to many
sexual practices, and the book could be the scenario of a traditional
pornographical movie, although some positions look very complex to
set up. The last scene is one of the most cruel and perverse scenes in
world litterature.
As for theory, the characters formulate political, moral and
religious theories which may or may not be taken seriously
by the reader. This "philosophy" relies on two main principles:
- Everything is allowed if it is natural. As we will see, Sade's
conception of what is natural is extensive.
- In a republic, there should be as few laws as possible, because
the people should be encouraged to protect themselves. That way they
will be strong and ready to defend the country or rebel against
the government. Note that Sade spent many years in prison both before
and during the revolution, and narrowly escaped a death
penalty.
The first consequence of these principles is that all kinds of
sexual acts are allowed, since they are natural. If they were not
natural, Nature would not let us draw pleasure from
them. Homosexuality is of course not a crime, and incest is a good
way to strengthen the family bounds (although Sade want to
destroy them at other times, but he is never afraid to contradict
himself). Anything which stimulates the sexual appetite should be
allowed, including violence (sadism) and rape.
This leads us to the second main consequence: all kinds of violence
are legitimate. War is the natural state of the human being. Sade is
against the death penalty for murders because murders are not crimes;
however, individual revenge is perfectly normal. Of course, theft is
natural: the people who are robbed should defend themselves.
Women are equal in rights and dignity to men. Brothels should
be created where men could abduct any woman they want, but there
should also be brothels where women could abduct any man they
desire.
Of course, religion is an illusion. Christianism in particular
is a despicable religion. Since the people apparently need to
believe in some god, Sade proposes to restore the antique gods
again, since they favor better values (courage, sex...) than the
Christian god.
All these theories and sexual scenes make reading Philosophy
in the boudoir a rare experience. I wonder if it could be
published today as is. A book which encourages hatred, murder,
incest with such violence would probably lead the publisher to a
trial, and the book may very well be forbidden, at least in European
countries which have laws against that. But, because it was written
200 years ago, you will find that book in every bookstore on the
classics shelf.