The 120 Days of Sodom (Book)

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Original manuscript from 1785

The 120 days of Sodom or the School of Libertinage (original French title: Les 120 Journées de Sodome ou L'Ecole du Libertinage ) is a partly sketchy text (episode novel) by the French writer Marquis de Sade , which he wrote in the Paris Bastille began to write down on a narrow roll of paper as a prisoner on October 22, 1785 and completed in 37 days. De Sade describes in detail the sadistic sexual practices of four, later named after the author, during the reign of Louis XIV . The French made wealth through tax extortion in the course of a stay of more than four months in a walled-up castle in a secret, remote location in southwest Germany or western Switzerland, accompanied by obscene stories.

The text consists of an introduction, house rules, a description of the person, notes, a supplement and four main parts; the first main part, which describes a period of 30 days, is written out in great detail, the three other main parts only exist in the draft.

The orgies

The events follow a peculiar system and strict choreography, both in terms of the selection of the people taking part and in terms of the planned course.

The protagonists

The main characters in the events are four middle-aged libertines between 45 and 60 years old and their daughters, who are also their wives or sexual playmates. Overall, the gentlemen use a submissive staff including their wives or daughters of 42 people.

The four libertines:

  1. The Duke of Blangis is an outspoken enemy of all virtues, he lives immensely in everything. He is lavish in his pleasure and stingy when it comes to useful things. Mentally and physically he is a pathological monster, sadist, and notorious assassin. He has a constant urge to orgasm.
  2. His brother, a bishop and at the same time an atheist of the same villainous character, but with more intelligence and sophistication, is a passionate pederast and possesses a refined sensual sensitivity with average potency . He hates the female genitals.
  3. President Curval, a retired senior judge, admits that during his tenure he had taken pleasure in trying an innocent man. He has potency problems and orgasm only in excess, but he keeps talking dirty and is almost always drunk. It gives off a foul smell due to its impurity.
  4. The tax farmer Durcet loves passive anal intercourse and has a tiny penis. He publicly feigns a man of honor.

The four daughters:

  • Julie, Constance, Adelaide and Aline
    • The Duke is Julie's father and the husband of Constance, who is Durcet's daughter.
    • Durcet is the father of Constance and the husband of Adelaide, who is the daughter of the President.
    • The President is the father of Adelaide and the husband of Julie, who is the Duke's daughter.
    • The bishop is the official uncle, in reality the father of Aline, who is his sexual playmate.

Four older vicious storytellers who have relevant experience in perverted sexual practices:

  • Duclos, Champville, Martaine, Desgranges

Four servants, chosen for their exquisite ugliness

Eight sires with exceptional genitals and excellent erection power

Eight teenage sex slaves

Eight teenage sex slaves

Six people in the kitchen, three cooks and three maids

The course of action

The plot follows a sophisticated concept that is strictly adhered to. It specifies in detail who exercises what kind of sexual practice with whom and at what time. In addition, there are bizarre house rules and a strict hierarchy. Every month a different libertine has the highest command and supervision of the regular flow of the orgies. The youthful sex slaves are held captive in special chambers. The chapel serves as a toilet.

The sexual objects they preside over are assigned to the libertines. Every Saturday there is a special Saturday orgy that is also the date of punishment for misconduct.

The text is divided into four sections of 30 days each (for the months of November to the end of February). Their content is in the form of narratives and sexual acts:

  1. The 150 simple passions
    (These passions contain narratives of practices such as ejaculating into a child's face, drinking urine, eating feces, prostituting one's daughter to watch her perform perverted acts.)
  2. The 150 complex passions
    (These passions contain narratives of practices such as child rape, incest , flagellation , sadomasochistic group sex.)
  3. The 150 criminal passions
    (These passions contain narratives of practices such as anal intercourse with young children, sexual acts on corpses, intercourse with animals, mutilation of the sexual partner.)
  4. The 150 assassination passions
    (These passions contain narratives of practices such as killing children in front of their mothers, rummaging around in the bowels of still living bodies, masturbating while torturing multitudes of women and men until they die.)
This is followed by an overview of the ongoing and final actions in March.

Table of contents

In the course of the individual plot sections, accompanied by the stories about perverse and bizarre sexual acts, the sexual objects are alternately sexually exploited, humiliated, punished, married to one another and tortured. The virgins are deflowered and a wife is impregnated. A large number of different perversions are systematically described and exercised, with special consideration given to complex sadomasochistic acts and coprophilic practices. Occasionally blasphemous episodes and often anti-moral and philosophical reflections on the wickedness of the human race are woven in. Homosexual and heterosexual acts are about equally common.

With the beginning of the treacherous passion, the wives and daughters are cast out and kept like animals. They are mutilated and murdered. By March 1st the daughters of the libertines Aline, Adelaide and Constance, four teenage sex slaves, two lust boys and a subaltern stallion have been killed.

After March 1, the sexual objects are regrouped and each reassigned to the four libertines; the maids are included in the orgies. In the end, the remaining youngsters, three sub-senior sires, the four servants and the maids are killed. In addition to the four libertines, the four storytellers, four sires, the three cooks and the duke's daughter survive.

People in summary ...... 46
of which are killed ......................
• before March 1st .................... 10
• after March 1st .................. 20
Survivors ....................... 16

interpretation

This last accounting account of the Marquis de Sade is at the same time the quintessence of the text. It was later branded by critics as the strict rationalism of sheer madness. Although the form of the text refers to the models " Decamerone " by Giovanni Boccaccio and " Heptaméron " by Margarete von Navarra - a closed society is found to tell stories together in a limited time - the work is nevertheless in its cynical style is inimitably unique because, as it depicts sexual perversions in a cold, rational system, ultimately progresses to the model formulation of a totalitarian society to which the subject individual is defenseless and inescapable to his or her assassination end.

History of the text

The writing in the form of a roll 12 meters long and 11 cm wide, with tiny letters sometimes only legible with a magnifying glass, was found and stored by Armoux de Saint Maximin after the storm on the Bastille . De Sade thought the text lost. The sex researcher Iwan Bloch , who later became aware of the text, advocated the printing by Max Harrwitz in 1904 (first publication in German 1909). A critical edition was printed by Maurice Heine in 1931–35. The scroll is likely a copy of the manuscript made by de Sade.

The role changed hands several times, including Iwan Bloch. In 2017, the French state declared it a national treasure, thus preventing it from being sold at auction.

Movies

music

  • The metal band Cradle of Filth processed the content of the work in their song Babalon AD (So Glad For The Madness) . The accompanying video clip is based on the film The 120 Days of Sodom .
  • The German rappers King Orgasmus One and Blokkmonsta processed various parts of the work in their joint piece "120 Days of Berlin". It was released in 2009 on the album La Petite Mort 2 - Hardcore Seelenficker Edition by King Orgasmus One.

Stage plays

  • 2017: Milo Rau : The 120 Days of Sodom. The stage play premiered on February 10, 2017 at the Schauspielhaus Zürich and sparked controversy because the actors were all actors in the theater group Hora, a theater project for people with intellectual disabilities.

Editions and translations (selection)

Since the novel's late rediscovery, numerous editions of the French text have been published, but apparently only a single German translation.

French
  • Marquis de Sade: Les 120 Journées de Sodome ou l'École du Libertinage. Publié pour la première fois d'après le manuscrit original, avec des annotations scientifiques par le Dr. Eugène Dühren. Ed .: Eugène Dühren (pseudonym, actually Iwan Bloch ). Club des bibliophiles, Paris 1904 (French, s: fr: Les 120 Journées de Sodome - considered unreliable). Digitized version of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France
  • Marquis de Sade: Les 120 journées de Sodome ou l'École du libertinage. Édition critique établie sur le manuscrit original autograph by Maurice Heine. Ed .: Maurice Heine. Pour les membres de la Société du roman philosophique, Paris 1931–1935 (French, 2 volumes, considered to be the authoritative first edition).
  • Marquis de Sade: Les 120 journées de Sodome ou l'École du libertinage. Édition critique établie sur le manuscrit original autograph by Maurice Heine. Ed .: Maurice Heine. Aux dépens des Bibliophiles souscripteurs, Paris 1931–1935 (French, 3 volumes, is considered the authoritative first edition).
  • Marquis de Sade: Les 120 journées de Sodome ou l'École du libertinage . Préfaces de Maurice Heine, A. Hesnard, Henri Pastoureau et Pierre Klossowski (=  Œuvres complètes du Marquis de Sade en quinze volumes . Volume 13 ). Cercle du livre précieux, Paris 1964 (French, was not available in normal bookshops).
  • Marquis de Sade: Les 120 journées de Sodome . Préface de Jean-François Revel. JJ Pauvert, Paris 1972 (French).
  • Marquis de Sade: Les cent vingt journées de Sodome . Nouvelle édition. Ed .: Annie Le Brun, Jean-Jacques Pauvert (=  Œuvres complètes du Marquis de Sade . Volume 1 ). JJ Pauvert, Paris 1986 (French).
  • Marquis de Sade: Les Cent Vingt Journées de Sodome ou L'École du Libertinage . Ed .: Michel Delon (=  Œuvres. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade . Volume 1 ). Gallimard, Paris 1990, ISBN 2-07-011190-3 (French).
German
  • Marquis de Sade: The one hundred and twenty Days of Sodom or the school of debauchery from the Marquis de Sade . First and complete translation from the French by Karl von Haverland. Private print, Leipzig 1909 (2 volumes, book decorations by Karl Maria Diez).

Web links

Wikisource: Les Cent Vingt Journées de Sodome, ou l'École du libertinage  - Sources and full texts (French)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Helmut Mayer: Marquis de Sade becomes a cultural asset: The role remains! www.faz.net, December 27, 2017, accessed December 27, 2017 .
  2. ↑ The 120 days of Sodom | Schauspielhaus Zurich. Retrieved June 1, 2017 .