“Cruel Pleasures”: A Gothic Reading of the Body and the Space in La Philosophie dans le boudoir by Marquis de Sade
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Abstract
In La Philosophie dans le boudoir, Sade draws a portrait of the violence and horror of the postrevolutionary French society. In it, the boudoir becomes a representation of the world, a microcosm where the contradictions of the human condition are explored, and the hypocrisy of the illustrated values is revealed. Although Sade’s work does not belong to the gothic tradition or to horror literature, his portrayal of themes, like the relationship between body and space, shares several similarities with classical gothic literature in English. The aim of this article is, therefore, to analyze the relationship between the body of the characters of the novel and the boudoir, understood as a reconfiguration of the traditional gothic space, to show that La Philosophie dans le boudoir can be read from the optic of the gothic. This paper will show how Sade’s novel, whose characteristics are related to the construction of space and the representation of bodily excess, reflects the transgression of the dominant classes. Thanks to these elements, the novel is able to provide a glimpse into the horror that hides behind the moral institutions of the French society of its time, as it defies concepts such as education, civility, and family.
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