/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.11725636]

Any of his work worth reading or was he just an insane sexual deviant?

[Anonymous No.11725907]

currently reading the Grove Press edition of The 120 Days of Sodom, and although I'm enjoying it, I have to read it very slowly in short bursts because although the descriptions of sexual acts are a mix of imaginative, absolutely horrifying, and actually funny as fuck, it is mind-numbingly repetitive and you can clearly tell that it was mostly unfinished. Despite being so unfinished, it's still a sizable tome of a book. Basically what I'm getting at is I would say that at least 120 Days is worth reading but it can be a bit of a slog, especially once the shock factor wears off. I'd say if you want to read something really perverse and fucked up, then check out Georges Bataille's Story of the Eye. It's essentially an update of Sade with even more gruesome imagery and the same sick sense of humor; plus it's only about 120 pages and very smoothly written so you can easily finish it in a sitting or two. Very re-readable.

[Anonymous No.11727359]

>>11725636
he wasn't insane; he was a member of the aristocracy, so he was... differently directed in terms of thought.

his sentences do need to be trimmed, but that was the style at the time; if you didn't go on and on and on for at least half a page per sentence, your readers would assume you were an intellectual lightweight and condemn you out of hand before even finishing the book.

once you untwist the text, basically he says those in power tend to do whatever they like. he just got off detailing this in extreme detail.