Sade My Neighbor
Sade My Neighbor by Pierre Klossowski, published by Northwestern University Press in June 1991, is a thought-provoking exploration of the philosophical implications of the Marquis de Sade’s work in the context of post-World War II Europe. This edition spans 144 pages and is presented in English, delving into the intersection of enlightenment ideals and the darker aspects of human nature that emerged following the war.
In this book, Klossowski examines how the savagery of the Second World War led to a reconsideration of moral frameworks, prompting theorists to engage with Sade’s writings as a lens through which to understand a world marked by indifference to virtue and vice. The text addresses themes of existentialism and phenomenology, reflecting on the complexities of ethics in a society shaped by violence and technological advancement. Klossowski’s insights have influenced a range of thinkers, making this work a significant contribution to the discourse surrounding modern philosophy and Sadean thought.
Official synopsis Publisher
Enlightenment ideals of a society rooted in liberationist reason and morality were trampled in the wake of the savagery of the Second World War. That era’s union of cold technology and ancient hatreds gave rise to a dark, alternative reason—an ethic that was value-free and indifferent with regard to virtue and vice, freedom, and slavery. In a world where “the unthinkable” had become reality, it is small wonder that theorists would turn to the writings of a man whose eighteenth-century imagination preceded twentieth-century history in its unbridled exploration of viciousness, perversion, and monstrosity: the Marquis de Sade.
Klossowski was one of the first philosophers in postwar Europe to ask whether Sade’s reason, although aberrant and perverted to evil passions, could be taken seriously. Klossowski’s seminal work inspired virtually all subsequent study of Sadean thought, including that of de Beauvoir, Deleuze, Derrida, Bataille, Blanchot, Paulhan, and Lacan.
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