Tuesday June 21 2011 / Arts & Philosophy
Felix & Sofie: Marquis De Sade and the Enlightenment's 'rotten spots'
"Yes, take me, Noirceuil!" cries out Juliette, one of the most controversial characters in the works of Donatien Alphonse François de Sade (1740 - 1814), better known as the Marquis de Sade.
Juliette is De Sade's heroine, entirely free of moral and religious conventions, living an immoral life dedicated to crime and passion. According to De Sade, Juliette is a pure human being who just follows her intuition and nature's laws. Only nature can tell us what is good and evil.
De Sade casts a shadow over the Enlightenment's optimism. Instead of showing us a merry and gay human being, free of religious prejudices, he shows a pervert wallowing in vulgarity and obscenity. ‘Pureness' and ‘Truth' do not necessarily imply ‘Good'. His Juliette reveals the rotten spots in Enlightenment thinking. Yet we may also wonder in how far De Sade himself was more ‘rotten' than the Enlightenment's ‘rotten spots'.
In the monthly philosophical café, De Sade's attitude towards the Enlightenment will be discussed, as well as De Sade and his importance for the history of literature.
With: Arnold Heumakers (literature critic NRC Handelsblad and essayist) and Manon Uphoff (writer).
Moderators: Marcel Zuijderland and Judith van der Wel.
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