In "Bastille Dreams," Sade is visited in his Bastille cell by Simone de Beauvoir and Jack the Ripper, who question him about the limits of man's freedom. Sade's companions and his muses, Justine and Juliette, assist him in the debate, but they question where Sade’s philosophy of freedom leads when expressed fully.
Sade, whose name inspired the term “sadism,” was imprisoned in pre-revolutionary France as much for his atheism as for his cruelty. Modern historians and philosophers have been re-appraising Sade’s wicked reputation, asserting his role as a philosopher whose worldly views were ahead of his time with regard to assertion of the self and the will to power. A warning from the author: the images are erotic, but Sade’s philosophy is poisonous, so beware, innocent eyes, lest you fall into damnation!!
Copyright 2005.
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