Having seen the movie Quills some time ago I was interested to learn more about the historical Sade. Schaeffer provides a very thorough account of Sade's 74 years. The numerous excerpts from his letters give the reader an opportunity to get to know the real Sade. Much of the myth of this interesting writer is dispelled, but one can clearly see how they came into existence. My final impression of Sade is of a man of extremes, especially in his literature, who desperately sought to find his place in a society that he found too conservative for his liberal sexual views. Overall the book was an enjoyable and interesting read. I came away not only with more knowledge of Sade, but also of the French Revolution and prison practices during that era. I recommend this book to history buffs and those who enjoy biographies. The Marquis de Sade was definitely not you average ordinary French aristocrat.

Schaeffer's De Sade is a noble and successful attempt at historical revisionism; this work painstakingly strips away the mythological Marquis de Sade as [a] monster, and elegantly reveals a literary genius, a victim of the aristocracy, who's life mission was to explore and rationalize the dark side of human nature.

One would not be remiss in calling the Marquis the father of libertinism. His life and work exemplifies the libertine ethos, that is, "rules are meant to be broken, that the laws of religion and society are artificial limitations without intrinsic value, and that the only law is the law of nature that authorizes any action for the sake of pleasure." (359) The irony, however, is that the king of libertinism spent the majority of his life behind bars, pushing the bounderies, breaking the rules of imposed morality with only his pen and an imagination geared to fulfil his every bent desire. As Schaeffer points out, the greater irony was behind the 18th century pomp and circumstance of the French aristocracy, de Sade's '120 Days of Sodom' barely scratches the surface of how these priviliged wigged lunatics really spent their time. De Sade's true nemesis was a woman: Mme de Montreuil - de Sade's mother in law. She wanted the man out of the way and she succeeded without question.

As a study of character and the way the human mind reacts while incarcerated, this book is a revelation. Of course, similar to most criminals, de Sade believed himself to be innocent; his predicament was always someone else's fault. To a large extent, he was right. But paranoia is a strong emotion, an exaggerated fear of the world against you: jailed for decades for no apparent "real" reason, one's mind will find a reason. Conspiracy theories provide answers and meaning to one's life - or at least an explanation for one's suffering. De Sade's theories, understandably, went beyond the pale. If anything, this biography is a fine study of how far a creative mind will reach for answers when backed against a wall. The letters between de Sade and his wife, Renee, while in prison, would be substantial material for any in-depth study or research project on the intricacies of paranoia. Renee would be the subject of another biographical study of equal stature to de Sade. What a fascinating individual. Reading only the fragments of these letters in the book is worth the time.

The Marquis de Sade would like us to believe that he is a martyr, a victim of hypocricy and social power. This book certainly argues this view well. But de Sade is about extremes; taking our base desires and making them realities, and philosophically justifying these base desires as natural. This argument doesn't work, because to live in society we must abide by the social contract - otherwise there is no society. De Sade, through his literature, showed us how far the imagination could travel to its darkest depths. Compared to the horrors of the twentieth century, however, de Sade's sexual and cruel exploits seem almost quaint.

Reading this book is well worth the effort, if one is interested in the nature of power, the intricacies of paranoia, and an honest account of a man of letters who ranks amongst the best. Neil Schaeffer should be commended.

Having devoured this book with great rapidity, I fail to understand the only tepid approval of some of the published reviews.

The strong points of Schaeffer's biography are as follows:

1. Great thoroughness. The author is in no excessive rush to get us to the Bastille era of Sade's authorial career. We linger through the early years in Provence as each step in his series of scandals unfolds. In this way, the reader feels the long genesis of Sade's maturity as a writer (a funny-sounding phrase for an author like Sade, but as valid for him as for any of the literary giants).

2. Freedom from trendy b.s. Sade's typical defenders do him more harm than good with their useless celebrations of "transgression". Schaeffer has no stupid axe to grind about any of the postmodern "readings" of Sade, and this in itself lends his book a refreshing quality.

3. In general, the book is simply well-written. A highlight is the dramatic and brilliantly paced account of his escape from the maximum security prison fortress in Savoy. I'm still laughing over that chapter of Schaeffer's book many days later.

4. Although some may dismiss the Freudian psychology that Schaeffer employs to shed light on Sade's character, I find that he does it quite skillfully.

So far, this is the best book of any kind that I've read in 2001. I feel lucky to have stumbled upon it by accident.