Philosophy in the Bedroom

Publisher Marketing: Philosophy in the Bedroom is a 1795 book by the Marquis de Sade written in the form of a dramatic dialogue. Though initially considered a work of pornography, the book has come to be considered a socio-political drama. Set in a bedroom, the seven dialogues concern Eugenie, a virgin, who has been sent to the house of Madame de Saint-Ange by her father, to be instructed in the ways of the libertine. Along, with Le Chevalier de Mirval, (Madame de Saint-Ange's 20-year-old brother), and Dolmance, a 36-year-old atheist and bisexual, they all teach her their ways. When her mother shows up, she is punished for bringing her daughter up with 'false virtues'. Excerpt "Voluptuaries of all ages, of every sex, it is to you only that I offer this work; nourish yourselves upon its principles: they favor your passions, and these passions, whereof coldly insipid moralists put you in fear, are naught but the means Nature employs to bring man to the ends she prescribes to him; hearken only to these delicious Promptings, for no voice save that of the passions can conduct you to happiness. Lewd women, let the voluptuous Saint-Ange be your model; after her example, be heedless of all that contradicts pleasure's divine laws, by which all her life she was enchained. You young maidens, too long constrained by a fanciful Virtue's absurd and dangerous bonds and by those of a disgusting religion, imitate the fiery Eugenie; be as quick as she to destroy, to spurn all those ridiculous precepts inculcated in you by imbecile parents."" Contributor Bio:  de Sade, Marquis Donatien Alphonse Fran?ois, Marquis de Sade, was a French aristocrat and writer who was notorious for his immoral lifestyle, and whose name provided the basis for the modern terms "sadism" and "sadist." Among de Sade's best known works are the erotic novels Justine, or Good Conduct Well Chastised, Juliette, or Vice Amply Rewarded, and The 120 Days of Sodom. Although an elected delegate to the National Convention during the French Revolution, de Sade was regularly incarcerated because of his lasciviousness, spending approximately 32 years in prison or in an insane asylum. He died in the asylum at Charenton in 1814. De Sade's life is depicted in the 2000 film Quills starting Geoffrey Rush, Kate Winslet and Joaquin Phoenix.