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Kant with Sade

JACQUF.S ,ACANTRA$SLr1TEO By JAMAS B. $WEN"SON,JR-

I[ir uxt should ha,ve craedas a preface n Philosophy ir r rhe Bedrcom. /t*.ppertrrd tn the1**rtzad Critique {nc I9l, t,pril 196}} {ts a re,l.iirl.t;f thttd.tt:sn *f tfu urrr'.&s f Sade.i*r athl;,h l rtn.sdestined.*T-hat the work of'Sade anticipates Freud, b it in respect of the catalogtre ofprrvcrsiorrs, is a stupid ehing to say, which grts rrpeatrd errdle.ssly rn

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imrnortality r+here t represses rogress,holines$,and even love,anyr.hingsatisfy-ing which might come r:f the law, the guarantre rryhicht requires frorn a will fcrrwhich the object to which the law referswould be incelligible, osingeven the ffatpropof rhe function of utiliry ro which Kant hadconfrned (hem, restorr the workro im diamondlike subversion.Which explalns he unbelievableexaltatinn whiclrany reader not fcrewarned by academic piety receives rom it. Norhing whichmight have l:eerrexplained atxrur it will ruin rhis effecr.-Ilhatone is well in evil, or if one prefbrs. that the eternal femininedoes natdraw one upward, one could say that rhis rurn was uken upon a phiL:lngicalrernark: namely rhat what had theretofare lreenadmitted, that one i* well in thegad fqa'tn estbien rlans le bunJ, rr$$ on a homonym which rhe Ccrman lan-guagedaes nat allow'. Manfithlt stchwahl a Gutcn This is how Kanr intraducesus t{r his Prartte*t Reas*n."{'hepleasureprrinciple s the law of rhe gor:d which is rhe wr;hl,let us saywell-being{bun-&trel. n practice, t would sulrrnit thc sutrjectcf i rhe samephtnrlrrrenal uccessicnwhich determines its objrcts. Ttrr objection ttret Kant Frosrsto it is , true to his rigorous style, ntrinsic. l{c phenornrnsn can claim {or itselfaconitent relalion tCIpleasurr. Thus no law of such a good can be enunciatedwhich *'ould clefinear will the subject who wauld introduce ir into his practicc."f'he pur*uit of the g.?odwould rhus be an impasst if it were not reborn asdas Gute, he good which is the otrject of the rnaral law. It i* indicated to us bry .rurexperience of listerringwithin ourselves o cotnfiulndments,whose imperativepresnl$ tself a$ categorical, that is, unconditional.

Let us nott that rhis gcod is only supposrd as rhe tlar:d Lryproposing itself,as has ust trcen said, ovr and against any obrjecrwhich would srt a condition roit , by oppcsing i.trelf o whatrvrr uttcertain goad these otrjectsmighr provide, inan a priari tquivalence, in order La impose itself as suprrior by virtrre of irsuniversalvalue-Thus ir r weight only appear$by excluding anyrhing-drive orsentiment*--which the subject might suffer in his interesr fnr an otrjecr , wharKant therefr:re qualiliesas'"pathal*rgical."lt wauld rhus b* hy induction fram this effecr that one would recover rheSovereign{ioad of the Ancients, if Kanr, as s hi* cusrom,di

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K*nt with,$arde 57

voice n the conscience, nd which, in articulating itself asa maxim, proposes hearde of a purety practical reasoncr af a will.For this maxim to become law, it is nec$ffi.ry nd ir is sufEcienr hat, whenresredby sucha reason, t can be retained as universal by right of logic. Let usrecall rhar this does nrrt mean that this right imposes tself upon everyone, butthat it is valid for alf cases, r better, that it is not valid in any ca$r fenaurun casl,if it i. t nat vali

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to a diatribe entitled; "Frenchmen, ye t another effort if lrou want to berepublicans ,What is enunciared there is usually understood, if not apprecrated,as amystification, Tlrere is nc need to be alerted by the recognized irnport of thedream within ttre drtam, that of painring toa clcser relarion to the real, in orderto see n ttris derision of historical actuality an indication of the ramr sort. It ispatrrrt, and ane w*ufd do better to look at it twice.I.,et us say that the nrrvr of the diatritre is given in the maxim whichproposesa rule for jauissarlte, rizarre in rhat it makes tselfa right in the Kantianfashion, [hat"of posing itsetf a$ a universalrule. Let us enunciate thr maxim:" l have the right of enjoyrrent over [Ie dratt tie ouir dr] your body, anyonrcan say o me, and I will exercise tris right, wit.hau[any limit stopping me irr thecaprici*usness f ttre exactions har I might have the teste s satiatc."$uch is rhe rule to which it is claimedthat the will r:f al l cculd be submitted,if

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K a,n u;ith. \ade 5g

to be equivale r, can orrly siruate tself with difficulty as the logical time of anycras*ing-orcr ctf he subject n his relatian to the signifier, and srill lessas a sngeof any developmenr,wherher or not ic is admissiblt aspsychic wher:e t is alwayseasy to pass he buck ta the child when ttrc pedagogtczl intent.ion misses hemark).Whatever it mey be, it is already a pcint in favor r:f ou r maxim that it canserveas he paradigmof a satement which excludesassuchreciprocity reciproc-it y and nnt trading placesi.Aty judgrrrentatrout the infarnous :rder that would enthrone our maxim is[hus indifferent to the rnatter, which is to rcognizeor refusc ir the characrerof arule admissible s universal n ethics, tre ethicswhich sinceKant is tecognizedasan unccnditional practice of reason.

It is obviouslv necrssary o recognize in it this character for the simplereason that irs very proclarnation (its kerygrna)has rhe virtue of insrituting aronce * bcth this radical rejectionof'the pathological,of any concrrn {ar agood,for a passion,even for a compassicrt, hat is, thr rejecticin by wtrich Kant liberatesthe fie d of the moral law-and the forrn of this law which is also it.s orrlysubstance, rlasrnuchas the will is anly obligated ro dismiss ram its practice anyrrascn which is not that af irs maxim itsellCertainly rheser.wc mperatives.between which mcral experience can bes(retched, o the breaking-pointof life, are, in the Sadianparadox. mposedon usas upon the Other, and not as upon ourselves.But this distanceonly exists at first sight, for the moral imperative does noless n a latent fashion,since t is from the Othr thar it s commandnrentmakes tsdemand on us.One pe ce veshere the naked revelation of whar the parody made aboveofrhe cbviaus universalityof the duty of the deposirary would lead us to, namelythat the bipolarity by which the moral Lew institutes itself is nothing other thanchis splitting of the subject which occurs in any intervention of the signifier:name y that of the subject*f the enunciation fram thc subjectof the statemenr.Ihe mcral Law hasno other principle. Srill it is necessaryhat it be parenr,lest t lend itself to the rnystification elr in the geg of "Long livr Polandl"In which the $adian maxim, by pronouncing itgelf frorn the mclrrrhclf rheOther, is more honest than appealing ro the voice within, since it unrnasks hesplitting, usuallyconiure away,of the srrbiert.Tlre su{cct. of' rhc enrrnciationdetaches tself here us t as clearly as frorn"[-

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his taste.'r fhe constrairu he would undergo wauld not be so much cne ofviolence a$ one cf principle rhe difficulcy fo r whcevr makes t a judgrnent,being nor so much ta make him consent tc it, a$ to pranounce it- n his place.k is thu.s ndeed the Other as free it is the freedom of the Other, which thediscilurse of the right to jauisTa,ficcosr$as the sulrjectof its enunciation,and notin a manner which diffiers fram the l'ou G,.rcIa *sl which is evck*d in themurderou$ capital l{rtnds tuant] of any inrperative.But this discourse s no lessdetermining for tht subjectof rhe statement, nthat eachaddress uscitates irn thrcugh it sequivocalcontrnt: sincejoaissance,hyshamelessly onfessing melf even as t speaks,makes tself *ne pole of a couple cfwhich rhe rxher is in the hollow which it is already drilling ir r the place r; f theOther in crder to erect the crcss of $adbn experience there"

[,tr us suspend*aying what makes it work, in order to recall ttrat pain,which here projecrs ts pramise of ignominy, only canfirms the expres$mntiontlrat l(ant make.s f it arnong the connontions af moral experience, What ir isworth for Sadian experience will be better srrn by appraactring t. hrough what,in the artifice of the Stoics,would dismantle this experienrr: conternpt.Imagine a revival af Epictetusin Saclian xptrience: "See,you broke it." he$ays!pr:inting t* his lcg" l.owering jouzssanddo the destitrrtion of such an cffectwhere it s prrrsr"rit tumbles, sn't thir tc turn it int

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Krznt u'ith Sade

ths radic, recallirrg he right promoted by the sugrplemental fforr ta which, atSade's all, the l-rench would have consented,and the maxim become, or rheirregenfrated Republic, arganic Law.Such vocal phenomna! naably those of psychosis,ndeed have rhis aspecrof cheobject. And psychoanalysis rasnot far in icsdawn from referring rhe vciceof conscience o them.One $ee$what rnotivares Kanr to hold rhis otrject as having cluded anyde ermination by the transcerrdenml esthetic, ven f it doesnot fail tr : appear nsrrmeprotruberance of the phenomenalveil, tacking neither hearth nor home,nor lime in ineuition, acking neither a mode which is situared n the unreal, noreffect in reality: ir is not cnly that Kant's phenomen

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of - his forrn Nevertheless his wing here has the task of raising itstlf to thefunction r-rf iguring the link of $x to death. Let us leave it ta rest behind itsEleusirrian erl.Thus pleasure,down therc the stinrulating rival of will, is here no morrtharr a faltering accomplice, n;ourssunte'sown time, it would be sirnply out trfpl"y, if fantasydid n{1t ntervene to sustain t by the very discord to which itsuccumbs.'I'o pu t it anorhrr way, fantasy canitirutes the pleasure proper to desire.Arrd ler Lrs orne back ta the fact thar desire is not subject, n that it cannot beirrdimted anywhere in a signifier of any dernand whats

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Kant u:zthS*dt s3

Thc botrorn line satisfies he order of the fantasy inasmuchas it supportsthe utr:pia E:fdesire,'fhe sirtuous ine inscribes he chain which permits a calculusaf the subjecr.It is directed, and iu direction constitutesan order in which the appearanceofthc *bje a in rhe placeof the cause s made clear bry he universality of its re aricnto the categoryof causality,which, in farcing the threshold of Kant's rrans{en-dental derlucti(rn,wrf,uld nar.rgurate nrw Critique of Reasanhinging upon theirnpurt.'f'here rcntains he V which. in rhisplacc,holding the high ground, appearst

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rr:ndrrrnati$n. The h-retween-two-deathsf rhis side fl'en-degbl s essential oshowr"rsha t it ir noneocher rhan the one by which the beyond{l'o,u-delal ustainsitself.It can be clearly seen n the paradox which Sade'sposition with resprct tohell constitutes.The idea of hell. a hundred times refuted by him ancldamne

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Ksnt u,*h .S*de 65

Nar gathered one o[ thosedreamsafter w-hich he drearner remainsovr-whelrned, {iom having, in a conditinn which is felt as an inexhaustible ebirth,been in chedepths of the pain a[ exisr.ing?Or to put back n their place hese ormnrs cf hell, r+hichhave nrver beenimagined beyond those of which the traditicnal maintenance s assured n thisworld by men, would we heseech hem to think of cur daily life as somethingwhich ought. o Fre ternal?'fhere is nothing to be hoped for, rven from despair, again*t a stupidity,finally sociological,and which we only mentian in order thar no one on theoutside expct nruch, concerning Sade, iom tlre circles where there is a moreassuredexpe ience of thc forms of sadisrn.Natablv abrout he equivacatity erfwhat circulatescon{rrning the relaticrr c{ 'reversiorrwhich would unite sadisrrro an ideaof rnasochism f wh.ich t is hard toimagine fram the ourside he pell-mcll t supports. t would be better to find rn ittlre w

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V, the will-to7$tttsso,?Ltr,o longe perrnits he contestati*nof its naturf , frrrit has passed nto the mr:ral constraint here irnplacablyexercised by the Prdsi-dente de Montreuil uFon ttre subjectof wh*rn it is evidenr that his divi*ion do*sno t require be ng joined in a single bcdy.itrt us remark that only rhe First Consuls seals his division with hisadministrativelyccnfirmed effect cf alienarir:n.)This divisiclnhere reunites, as 5, the raw suhject ncarnating the heraismproprr tCI he pathalogical, in the speciesof the fidelity t* Sadewhich thtrsewhowere at frrst conrplacent toward his excesseswill demonstrate, his wife, hissiste-in-taw - his valet, *hy not? other ele otions effacecl 'rorn hi* hist*ry,For Sade, rhe S (barred Si, we se ar last that, as sutrject, it is in hisdisappearan{ethat he signs, things having reached their term. Llnbelievably,.5adedisappearswithriut anything, evrn less han in the case of Shake$peare,remaining af'his inrage,after ir r his will he had orde ed that a thicLet eflace venthe tracr upon the storrc. f'a namr that would seal his desriny.Mf i quvctt{ no t ro be Lrarn,his malediction, essh*ly than thet of"Oedipu$,does not bear him arnong the Gods, hut is eternalized:a) in the r+orkcf whictr,disrnissirrgt with thr h:ack f his hand,Jules-|aninsh*ws us the uns'rnkable urvival,having it saluted by the b*oks which rnask t, ifwr believe him, in every respectable ibrary, .$aintJahn Chrysostom or theFensies.Sade'swork is boring, you agre in saying,yes,as tlrick as thieves, Mister

Judge and Mister Academician,but still able to make you one tly the nrher, oneand rhe *rther, onr in the *ther, ger upsel.IoFor a f,antasys indeed quite upsettingsinceone dtles not knaw where to setit , because t is there, wholly in im natur as fbntasy which onfy has reality asdiscourse nd which expt(ts nothing from vour powers,but which demands hatyou sel yourself straight with respct to your desires.Let the reader nCIwapproach wirh rrverence these exemplary figtrreswhich. n the Sadian redroom,arrange and undc themselvesn a fairground rite."'fhe $)o$ture lreaksup."CbrrrnCInialpause,sarred scansiein"$alure the objects of the law, o{ which }rou kncw norhing, fcr lack rsfknowing haw to frnd your way among the desiresnf wtrich tlrey are rhe {ause.ft's goorl ra he chcriLableIlut utth ,Lshom?h*t"s Lfu point.

I It shouk{ na t be undasrcorl by rhis thar ;-e er r crediring the legcnd according rc which heperrrnally intervened in.Sede'g drtentian- Cf . Githert l-*lty, l'tc du Marquu rfu,Iade, vil l- II, Paris,Gel l imarr l , 1S57, pp"577 ._580, and footnote I of p. 380.g. Choir of Ofitpu at {)ahu{r, verse l2?5.t0 Cf Maurice Carq*n, l. 'nSc*e Sode,Jean-Jacquc* Pauvert, I95?. He cites-f.Janin in lr .r{..it.t* e Farts crf 1854 in hi* pl*u, Fp . 8{ -q$, Second referencerJ*an f-orteau. ascited *'itne3r, wrire*rhat .$adc is boring, not with*rut heving recognizerl in him ttw philarapher and rhe m

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Kant u, i th Sg,Ce 6?

A certain M. lrerdoux resolves t every day by putting lvCImrn n the ovenunril he himself encls up in the electric chair. He thcught that hi$ dear oneswanted to live comfirrtably. More enlightened, the Buddha allowed those whodid no t know the road to devour him. Despite his erninent patronage,whichc.:uld very well only be basedclna rnisunderstanding it is by no means sure thatthe tigress ikes ro eat Buddha), M. Verdoux's abnegationderives frorn an errorwhich merits severity since a small grain of Critique, t'$ no t expensive,wouldhave allawed him to avoid it . hin ane doutrts that the practiceof Reasonwoulrlhave beenmorr t(on*rnical as well as rnore legal,should his dear oneshavehad[0 g0 without."But what," will you ask, "are al l thesemetaphorsand why. ."Moleculrsl monstruouslyassernblinghere frrr a spintrian jonissancr, wakerrus to the cxistencc f r:thers,more crlmrnonlyencoun[ered n life whoseequivrl-calitieswe have us t evoked. Sudclenly hey are mrlre respectablehan the latter,appearingpurer in their valencies.llesires here alone to irind them, and exa,ftecly making rnanifest hatdesire s the desire r:f the Other.Whotver hat read us this far knows that desire, rnorc exactly, is supportedhy * fantasywhich hasat leastcne f

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68 OCl'{}BER

he says, that $omeonesayshis lusr is irresistible **hen the desired object and{rpportunityare prrsent. Ask him whether he wcruldno t control his passion f, infiant of the house where he ha.s his cpportunity, a gallows were erected onwhich he would b hanged rnmediatelyafter gratifying his lust. We do no( haveto guessvery long what his answer wculd be . Bu t ask him whether he thinks itwould be possible rrr him to overcomehis oveof life, howevergrrit it rnaybe, ifhi s sovereign threatened him wirh the same sudden deathrr unlesshe made afalse rleposition again$Lan hanoratrle man whom the ruler wished to destroyunder a ptausiblepretext. Whether he worrld*r nat he perhapswill nct venturern say; but that it should be possible or him he would certainlv admit withouthesitation.He judges, therefore, that he can do scmething because e knows heought. and he recognizes .hathe is free-a fact which, without the nroral [aw,woulrl have remainetl unkn*wn to him."T'he first rf,$pon*ehere $upp{rsrd of a subject abcut wham wr are firstwarnecl hat lor hinr much happens n words, makesus think that we have notFreen iven t tc the letter, evfn though that's he whole point. It 's that, in orderto compose t, one would rather rely on a prr$onagewhosescrupleswe would befround fen toutras] to offend, fcrr hr would never len aurun] stoop to eating rhatkint{ of brea

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Kant uttli Se,de 6g

l-.etus place thr credit for our successn the ranks of the pawn$,quren ofthe game as we kncra'.For we have brcughr inta play neither our Knight, withwhich we could haveeasilywon the game fcr it would have beenSade whom webelieve o be wellqualified in this mattr-nor our Bishop [For,r], or our RooklTourl, the rights of manr freedom of rhought, your body is your own, nor evenour Queen [Oa*rl, an apFrcpriete figure to rlesignate he prowesses f courtlyiove T'his wcrrld have rileant rnoving tCI$ naity people, for a lesscermirr result.For if I argue that Sade, or a few oke$, ran rhe risk, in full knowledge seewhat he makesof his "escapades," egal ar not), cf heing imprisoned during athird of his ife,jokes which claubtless -re little too much in earne$t,but al l themore demonstrativr with respect c their recompcns, draw upon nryself Pinelanclhis pinellry which eCImr$ p again. Moral insanity, t apines.A lovely busi-nts$, in anv case^ arn here recalled to reverence for Pinel, to wtrom we o$reorre

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70 OCTOBE,R

canclilsivero his ends. For suppasing hat his helot has the least de-a f what'shapp*ning, he will ask hirn Ii.e , Kanti if bv chance t wauld he his duty rtr beartrue witness, n case his were the rneansby which the tyrant cnuld satisfy risw shes.Should he say hat the innccent is aJew far exarnple if he truly is , before atribunal, such as hasbeensen,which would find in this something to candenrn-trr ye t that he isan atheist,,justwhen t is possible hat he himsclf is a man whcrrrould better understand the weight of the accusaticn han a consistory,whichcrnly wants a dossier-and the deviation from the "line," will he plead it notguilty in a placeand iime when thc rule of ttre game is self-criticism*- and thenwhat?after all, is an innoccnl ever spotless,will he say what he kncws?One can erec(asa cluty the rnaxinrof {ountering thredesireof the tyrant, ifthe tyrant is the one who arrosates o hinrsef the pnwer (o enslave he desire ofthe {}ther.T'hus upon the two lengrhs {and the precarious rnediation), from whichKant makeshinrselfa lever in order to shor*' hat the ["aw puts into balanceno(just pleasure,but alsopain, happiness, r even the pressureof poverty, even loveof life, everything pathological, t turns out that desire can not only have the$ame$ucces$, ut can abrain it with greater legirimacy"But if the advanmge which we have alloweel he Crulrqueo take fram thealacrity of its argumentation owed scmething io our desire to know what itwantecl o gc t at , could not the ambiguity of this successurn back ts movementtr:ward a revision of the ex(crted concessicrns?

Such as, for example, the disgracewhich, somewharhastil|, was rroughtupon all ctrjects hat propose themselvesa$goods, as berng incapablc of causingthe harmony of wills: simply by introducirrg competition- Thus Milan, in whichCharles V and Frangois I knew what it cost them both to sre the .ramegocd.This is indeed to misrecognize the nature of the olrjeEtr: f desire.Which we can only inrduce here b,v ecalling what we teachabout desire,ro be forrrrulat*d asdesireof ttre Other, since t is originally desireof its clesire,Which makesthe harmony of desirrs cr:|nceivable, ut not r.vithoutdanger. Forthe reason hat in linking up in a chain which rasernbles reughel'sprocession fthe l"rlind. hey may indeed all be holding hands, but nrrne knows where all aregolng.In reversingdirection they r+illal l gain the experienceof'a universal rule,but will knaw n* rnore atx:ur it.W,:rukl he solutiort .:on$onant ith pracricalReasnn hen be that rhey all gcrrouncl irr

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Kant u:ith Sg,d.r

analysis,which recognizesn desire(he truth of the subject,cannot misrecognizewhar frrllorvswithout dernonstradngwhat it represses.Displeasure srecognized by psvchoanalyticexperien{ a$giving a pretexlto the repressionof d.esire,n thar it is prr:ducedon the path af its satisfactian:but also as giving the form this satishction itself takes in ttre returrl of therepressed-Similarly pleasure's version o recognize he law is doubled, by supportingthar desire a satisfy t which is defense.If happine$ss the uninterrupted agreeablrness, cr the subject,of his lifeas thr Crttiqueriquite claqsically efirres t. it is clear that it is refused tr-rwhom-everdoes ntrt rnounce he pat.hof desire This renunciaticncan be willed, but arthe prict cI'the truth of {nan, which is made clear enough try the rcprobationincurred before tlte comrnon rclealby th* F-picr"rreans,nd even by the Stoics"'I'heir ataraxia destitutes heir wisdom. They are given nc l creclit for loweringdesire, fior nn t only is the L,awnor treld to he raisedaccorclingfy;but it is thus,whether one knows rt or not, that it is felt to be thrown down.Sade,ex-noble, takesup Saint-fustwhere one should- T'hat happinesshasbecnrnea factor in politics s an irnproper proposirion. t hasalwaysbeenone andwill bring hack he scepterarrd he censerwhich get along with it very well. [t isthe freedom m desire which is a new f,ac(or,nnt because t inspires a revolution----it s always rrr a desire hat one strugglesand that one dies hut because hisresolution wills that its struggle be for tfre freedom of desire.The result is that it also wills that the law be free so free that it rnust be awidr:w, the Wiclow par excellence, he one who sendsyour head into the baskerhowever little it faltered in the affair. t{arJSaint-Just's ead remained inhabitedby the fanmsieso[ Organt, he wauld perhaps have made of Thermidor histriumph.The right ta joutss&nte,were it reccgnized,would relegate he dominationof the plea-rureprincipl to a forevermore outdated era- ln rnunciating it , Sadecausr$ hc ancient axis of ethir-s o slip, by an imperceptible racture, for rvery-one: this axis is nothing othrr than the egoisrnof happiness.lt cannr:tbe said hat zl l reference o it is extinguished rr Kanr, in the vervfamiliarity with which it keeps him cornpany,and evn more in its offspring,which one seiees n the requirernents frcm which he deducesas much a retrihu-tion in the beyond as a progre$$here belcw.[-ct another happiness "re lirnpserl,who$enafiIr we first saicl,and the statusof deriirechanges, mposing im reexamination.But it is here that there is sonrething tr be uelged.T'r: what paint.rJr:rsSadelead us in the experienceof rhis jottissawc, >rat least ts truth?

t 5 'fheorern II r-rf he ftrst chap'tcr of ' the ;taalrt

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72 OC-TOBER

For these hurnan pyramids, falrulciuslydrmrrnstrating ja*issanre n its cas-cading nafure, these iered fountainsof desirebuilt {orjouissc"ndec castupon thed'Este garrlens he irides{enceo[a baraque vcluptousnfs$, he higher they makeit gush into the sky, the closer we are drawn by the questionaf what is drippingthe eOf the unpredicatable uana with which the love-hateattrmshimrner$nearthe T'hing whenceman rffirrgfs with a cry',what is fe t, beycnd certain imirs, hasnothing to do with what $upportselesire n fantasy,which is precisey constitutedby ther lirnits.These limits, we know that in his life Sadr wrnt bcvond thern.And daubtlesshe would otherwise not have given us thir Lrlueprinrof trisfanmsy in his work.Perhapswe should l"re sr*rrished y putting into questionwhar, crf his realexprrieficrr the work wcluldals* translate.-I'o limit nurselvs tcl the bedronm, for a sharp enough glirnp*e cf thesentime tsof a girl toward her mother, lhe fact rcmains hat wickednes*r o_iustlysituated by Sade in its transcenderrce, eachesus nothing very new abour rhemodulationsof her heart.A work wtrictrwills itself ta be wicked lmichanteJ ould nor pfrrnit itsclf rohe a mrdiocrt :{m{thanttlwark, and it mu.rtbe saicl hat rht Phitosophg,yn wholeside r-rfgood work, lends itse f to this witticism.There's a little too much preaching in there.Doubtless t is a treatiseon the education of girlsld and assuch submitted tcr

the lawsaf the genre. Despite he advartraget gainsby expasing he anal-sadisricwhich clouded over tl'resubject in iu *l:sessional nsi*tence n the two precedingcenturies, t remainsa treatlse :n education.The $ermon s excruciating or th lvictim, se f-infatuared on the parr of rhe instructar.The histr:rical,or rathrr, erudite information is grey and makes one regreral-a,Mathe le Vayer. The physiology s comp(rsed f old wivrs'Lales.As faras th*sexualeducation s concerned, t rounds like a conrernporarymedicalpamphleqnCImore need be s*id.Stronger cornrritnrent ta scandalwr:uld mean gaing rrn ro recognize n theirnpatence n whictr he educative ntenrion is commr.rnly epl*ved, thc very oneagainstwhich the fantasymakrs al l its efforts here: whence is born the ohstacle canv valid account of the effectsaf education,sincerhe parr of the intenrirrnwhichcau*ed the resultscann*t be avowed.'I-his trait could have been priceless,one of the laudatrleeffects*[ sadisticimpcltence. I"har Sade missed t rneans hat $onrethins renlairrs o b* thcught.His hiling is confirmed bv anolher no lessrenarkatrle: the wcrk neverpresentsus with the success f a seduction in whictr the fantasywould neverthc-lessbe crowned: that by which the victim, be it in her final spasm,werut

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Kant u, i th Sadr

consenr o the intention of her tormentor, or would even enroll herselfan hisside tr y the vervr of her con$ent.'T'hisdemonsrrarrs from another point of view that desire is the other sideof the law. [n the Sadian antesy,one sees ow they susmineachother- For Sade,one is alwayson the sameside either ttre good or the bad: no affront can changeanything. tr is thus the triumph of virtue: this paradox only recove s the de isionproper to the edifying book, which Justine aims at too much not tCIespouse t.Apart from the lengtherringno$ewhich giveseway he lit, found at the endaf rhe posthumcus )ia ogueBetarcen Priest nd a DytngMan iadmit rhat hrere san unpropitioussut{ect for other gracrs than clivinegrace),one sometimes eelsthe lack in the work of a m.ot 'tsprit, and more largely of the ur t whosenecessityPope had spoken of almost a {entury before.lividerrtly, all this is fnrgatren by tht invasion of peclantrl,which weighrupon French literature sinceWWII.Bu t if yau need a srrong stomach o fi:llcw Sadewhen he extols calumny,the firsr article o[ morality to be instituted n his Republi{, onr might prefe ttrathc put $ornething af the spicine s of a Renan inta it . " l",et us carrgraf-ufteourselves n like rnanner," the latt"rr writes, "(hat Jesus fncountere

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7, { OCTOBE,R

rnore than one work, eratic navel or religiausdrama. We wculd call it the senileragrc, rrf which it was nflt known befbre us. exctpt in schooll:oys'rrkrs, tfrer itwas within a stone's-Lhrow f the noble tragic- One shauld refer, to understandus, to Claudel's rilogy af the Plre lrumilii. (Ttt undersmnd us, one shoukl alsoknow that *' e havshcwn in ttriswark the traits of tlre rnostauttrentic raged)r. tis Melpomnewho isage-ridden,with Clio, without enyoneseeingwhich one willhury the other")'I'hus wr artl in a pr.rsition c inr.erragate the $adr, tnan pro*hain whoseinverr:ation e owe ta the perspicacityof Pie re Klossowski^ xtrrmel it riispenseshim frrrm having to play the wi t lde.s ecours u bel, sprilJ.rnDoubtless t is his discretionwhich learJs irn to shelterhis forrnula l:ehlnd ;rreference to .$aintLabre. We do not find this reasr:ncompe f ng enough to givehinr the sarnrshelter.'I'hat rhe Saclian antasy situares melf tretter in the trearersof Christiancthics than elsewher* s what our structural lanclmarksallcw ur to gra$peasily.But thar Sade, himself, refuscs to be rny neighbor, is what needs rc frerecalled,not in order to refuse t to him in return, but in order to recognize hemeanrngof rhis refusal.Wt bttievt that Sade s not closeen*ugh ta his own wickeclnrsso reccgnieehis neighbor in it. A trair which he sharer with ffirofr and notably with Freud.For such ir indeed the solemotive r-rf he recoil of beings,somrtirnes forewarned,before the Christian cornmandnrent-For Sade,we se he test of this, crucial in our eyes, n his refusal r{ thedeath penalty. which history, if not logic, waultl suffrce to shaw is one of thecnrcllariesof Charity.Sade hus stopped,at the point where desire is knotted together with thelaw. If something n hirn held to the faw, in order there to find rhe opportunitySaint Paul speaksof , to be sinful beyond measure, who would rhr*w rhe firststone?But he ftrrnt nr: furthrr.It is nar only that fr-rrhim as for the res(of us the flesh s weak, r is rhat thespirit is too prrlmpt not t$ be lrrred.T"heap*logr* errcrime only putheshirn ro rheindirect avcwal cf the Law. T'he $upremeBeing is resrnred n L{aleficenceListen to him braggingof his tectrnique,of immediatelyputting everyrhingwhich occurs o him into operatian, thinking rncrecver, by repl*cing rpenran{ewith reiteration, to have done r+ith the law wirhin. He finds ncthing L*tr.*, torncourage us tc folk:w him than the pr*rnise that naturc, wornan hat she .t,willrnagicafy alwaysyiekl to us rnnre.It wculcl he a mistake r$ rrurr this rypical dream *f p*rency.It sufficiently ndicates, n any case, ha t it would not Llrpossible or Sade,as

?{ } Thi* phraec r"ai atklrersed to a future acatlemiciarr, hirn*lf an expert in rn*lirirrusne$rr$,rr,hom I have perceiv*d ro rec{rgniz* himrelf in thc crre w}rich openr thir articlc.

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Kant u ' t th Sade t5

is sugge-stecly P. Klossowski ve n as he nores ra t he doesnor believe t, to haveattairrecl he sort of apathy which would be "'to have reentered threbosam ofnature, in a waking *tate in our world,"l l inhabited by language.Of ' what Sade s lacking here, we have forbidd.n o,rrriluei to saya word.One may scnse t in the gradation of the Phitasapyoward rhe facr thar ir is thecurved needle,dear to Bufluel'sheroes, vhich s final[y calledupon to resolveagirl 's pcnisnetC,nd quite a big one.Be that as_it.may,t appears ha t there is ncthing to be gainedby replacingDiatirna with llolmanci, someonr whom rhe ordinaly patti seems o fiigtrt.imore ttran is fitting, and whc-did Sade se* iti-closes ttre affair wirlr i WotitangcremAlrem'V ed and sewn up, the mother rernains fclrbidden. Ourverdict upon the sutrmissiono{' Sade to the Law is confirme.d.Of a treatise ruly aboul tlesire, here is rhus l i ttte here even ngthing.What of it isannouncecln thrscrcrssingaken frnm an e:ncoilnter,sat iro*ta tonc of reason.

R. C,.September 962

Theeditorswrtutd thz o thanhfatqucs-Alat"nL4tllcrfor the permissionapublzshthi.s ext.

?t. C{ . the focrnrrtr fin p. 94 . ,!tzdr:,man ptrr.fia2gr.