Sade: Sex and Death – The Divine Marquis and the Surrealists
Edited by Candice Black
Translated by R J Dent
‘SADE IS SURREALIST IN SADISM’
André Breton, Surrealist Manifesto (1924)
The Marquis de Sade (1740–1814), best known for his violent, erotic novels, such as 120 Days of Sodom and Justine, was also one of the key inspirational figures identified by André Breton in his Surrealist Manifestos. De Sade’s importance to the Surrealists and their close affiliates is reflected in the sheer volume of art and writing dedicated to, or inspired by, his life, philosophy, and writings. Sade documents this body of Surrealist work, including many key texts and bizarre and erotic images never before assembled in one volume.
Sade: Sex and Death contains more than fifty rarely seen transgressive illustrations by some of the most famous names associated with Surrealism, including Dalí, Hans Bellmer, Magritte, André Masson, and Man Ray. The book also features analytical texts by writers of the period such as Bataille, Breton, Bunuel, Éluard, and Klossowski. Putting the works in context is an extensive history by Candice Black that details the relationship between the Surrealists and Sade.
Four essays in Sade: Sex and Death have been translated into English by R J Dent, including the first-ever English translation of Guillaume Apollinaire’s ‘The Divine Marquis’. ‘The Divine Marquis’ was the first modernist appraisal of Sade and remains one of the best concise biographies of its subject. Another of R J Dent’s translations is ‘De Sade and the Gothic Novel’ by scholar Maurice Heine, an essay in which Heine posits Sade as inventor of the Gothic novel.
The Marquis de Sade was one of the key figures identified by André Breton in his Surrealist Manifestos as inspirational to the whole Surrealist movement. Sade’s importance to the Surrealists and their close affiliates is reflected in the sheer volume of their art and writing dedicated to, or inspired by, his life, philosophy and work.
Sade: Sex and Death documents this body of work, and features many key texts as well as a host of bizarre and erotic Surrealist images never before assembled in one volume.
Sade: Sex and Death includes texts, paintings, photography and drawings by: Guillaume Apollinaire, Georges Bataille, Hans Bellmer, André Breton, Luis Buñuel, Salvador Dalí, Robert Desnos, Paul Éluard, Max Ernst, Leonor Fini, Maurice Heine, Valentine Hugo, Pierre Klossowski, Felix Labisse, René Magritte, André Masson, Roberto Matta, Man Ray, Toyen, Clovis Trouille and others.
CONTENTS
Sade and Surrealism: An Illustrated History – Candice Black
The Divine Marquis (Trans. R J Dent) – Guillaume Apollinaire
The Use Value of De Sade (Trans. Allan Stoekl) – Georges Bataille
De Sade and the Gothic Novel (Trans. R J Dent) – Maurice Heine
A Destructive Philosophy – Pierre Klossowski
Notes on the Sadistic Imagination (Trans. R J Dent) – Andre Masson
Sade: A Revolutionary Intelligence (Trans. R J Dent) – Paul Éluard
Product details:
SADE: SEX and DEATH
The Divine Marquis and the Surrealists
Edited by Candice Black
Translated by R J Dent
ISBN-13: 978-0-9820464-9-4
197 pages
50 halftones
Solar Books/University of Chicago Press
Sade: Sex and Death is available from:
http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/S/bo11334062.html
and:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sade-Divine-Marquis-Surrealists-Archive/dp/0982046499/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
and:
Follow R J Dent’s work on:
blog: https://rjdent.wordpress.com/
twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/RJDent
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rjdentwriter
youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/rjdent69?feature=mhum#p/a/u/0/CmnYHWJqQK4