Ernst Juenger
THE ADVENTUROUS HEART: TWO SELECTIONS
SADISTIC BOOKS
Marquis de Sade's
Philosophie du Boudoir,
which for
more than a century circulated in banned editions, has things in it not
generally considered subjects one writes about,
if
we disregard the
inscriptions on the walls of privies.
It
is the work of a mind that has
drawn the conclusions of its Rousseauism with a vengeance, and
whose prose compares with the periwigged, impish writing of Cre–
billon, Couvray and Laclos as the broad axe of the Septembrist with
the epee of the chevalier.
In
it one can hear the howl of the aardwolf,
with its dank, sticky coat and insatiable hunger for flesh, as it greedily
hunts through sewers, finally drinking blood and devouring the offal of
life. Each draught from these red cups is like a mouthful of seawater,
driving thirst to a higher and higher pitch of frenzy.
The mechanics of the prose contributes to this effect. Dashes are
used to break up phrases and clauses, robbing the language of its
breath and reducing it to a gasp and a groan.
An
endless succession
of synonymous words gives every act and object a lascivious palpabil–
ity-the language sends hot spikes through the flesh. No matter what
the phrase, quotation marks lend it a connotation of obscenity-it
is assumed without question that an infamous understanding exists
between author and reader. Then there is the trick of interrupting
the naked brutality of the writing by some genteel turn of phrase:
this unexpected flash of coyness serves momentarily to reveal in the
starkest possible light the wildest and most tumultuous scenes.
The book makes uncomfortable reading, not so much because
of the horrors it contains, but because of the complete self-assurance
with which it violates the unexpressed compact existing among all
men.
It
is as if someone were to raise his voice in a room and say:
"Now just among us beasts-"
