Sade et Chateaubriand

At the present time, the philosophic and literary importance of Sade is unappreciated and subject to academic neglect. He seems quite distant from an through pain and anguish. The similar manner in which each writer explores the subjects of eroticism, sexuality, and criminality (in particular orthodox writer like Chateaubriand, and yet both writers share the concept, common to the early nineteenth century, that love is only possible incest, infanticide, homosexuality) sufficiently indicates their community of spirit. Sade, like Chateaubriand, was inspired by the English Gothic Novel in terms of literary technique, although he evolved a more comprehensive and elaborate concept of Nature. A comparative analysis of these two writers modifies and broadens our idea of a rigidly traditional Chateaubriand, and serves to humanize Sade by establishing more precisely his value as a man and writer. (AG)