De Sade's Aline Et Valcour

570037554 SERGIO ZENERE LLM2002D Dissertation level II September 2008 DISSERTATION*

DE SADE'S ALINE ET VALCOUR AS REFLECTION OF XVIII CENTURY IN FRANCE: AN EXPLORATION OF SELECTED TOPICS FROM UPPER-CLASS POLITICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL DEBATES SERGIO ZENERE

ISBN: 978-1-312-78091-0

SEPTEMBER 2008

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570037554 SERGIO ZENERE LLM2002D Dissertation level II September 2008 TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE 2

INTRODUCTION

PAGE 3

I. PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS

PAGE 4

1. INTRODUCING THE NOVEL

PAGE 4

2. GRANDSTAND PLAY

PAGE 10

3. COMING TO TERMS WITH (AUTO)BIOGRAPHY

PAGE 13

II. THE NOVEL IN THE CONTEXT OF XVIII CENTURY FRANCE PAGE 17 1. THE RULING CLASSES IN XVIII CENTURY FRANCE

PAGE 17

2. ROBE AND THE CROWN

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3. THE CROWN AND THE WORLD OF NOBILITY

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4. NOBILITY AND REPRESSION

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5. NOBILITY AS ARBITER ELEGANTIARUM

PAGE 36

III. CONCLUSION

PAGE 40

BIBLIOGRAPHY

PAGE 43

DECLARATION

PAGE 57

ENDNOTES

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570037554 SERGIO ZENERE LLM2002D Dissertation level II September 2008 INTRODUCTION

It is important to state what this study will attempt to discuss, and what cannot (or will not ) be discussed. This study tries to explore selected topics to document how Sade's novel

Aline et Valcour (1795) best epitomizes the atmosphere of the society at large and most commonplace and 'hot' debates in XVIII century France, among the higher classes; the dissertation will thus have to grapple with Sadean i studies, although on an unconventional wavelength. It will be necessary to examine the structures of XVIII century French nobility in its composing halves and its relation with the State; it will also be necessary to examine the broad context of XVIII century France; historical and social facts and dynamics will be employed to suggest a possible explanation, to understand the way Sade handles a number of topics the way he does, and thinks the worst possible of magistrates and robeii, going beyond quick explanations of an (auto)biographical nature (for example Sade's own problems with justice). However, these topics alone warrant a string of dissertations each, to give proper attention to all facets of this vast field of study, thus falling well outside this study's allowed scope and space; it has to be brought to the reader's attention how this is intended as an exploration and not as an exhaustive treatise.

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570037554 SERGIO ZENERE LLM2002D Dissertation level II September 2008 I. PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS: SETTING THE STAGE 1. INTRODUCING THE NOVEL: LIFE AS AN AVENTURE. It is important to emphasize – at least roughly- the place that Aline et Valcour occupies in the vast, diverse, at times garbled and superposed universe of de Sade's literary production. This huge novel, spanning in excess of 800 pages in some editions, is Sade's proficiency test to join the hommes de lettres of his times, thus demonstrating a perfect mastery of suitable style (or styles ), mannersiii and 'good writing 'iv, whose formula he disclosed in his literary manifesto

Idée sur les romans (1800); therefore Aline et Valcour does not rank among the stereotypical 'sadist' production, but epitomizes 'respectability' and ' presentability '. Aline et Valcour, a title reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet, Tristan et Yseult, Paolo e Francesca, Abélard et Héloise prepares the reader for another row of unhappy events dooming two young lovers in a style perfectly in tune with roman sensiblev, which typically offers endless variations of the pathetic register ( tears flow endlessly, the pathetic fallacyvi is commonplace and so forth ).

The assumption guiding the whole phantasmagoria is that journeys and misfortunes help people understand what mankind is all about, in its fragile existence under the merciless rule of hectic nature that -to retell his own example- akin to a volcano either erupts precious stones to delight people, or fireballs to annihilate them vii. Novels -Sade claims – ought to portray real-life excess and vices in the most glaring terms 'right as they are', in order to trigger a sort of

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570037554 SERGIO ZENERE LLM2002D Dissertation level II September 2008 cathartic effect able to serve the cause of virtue, in spite of the authorship of the libertine/'sadist' novel Justine (1791), which Sade disavowsviii. A perfect scene to make this point occurs in Sade (1795-1:1065): in Portugal, thieves steal belongings and all money from young Léonore and Clémentine. In distress, the two girls receive a mysterious message luring them to the secluded mansion of some notable to get a chance to recover their property in exchange for sexual favors; once there the two girls meet a few libertine magistrates (“gens de justice”). Before anything happens, though, the couple first terrorizes the inane libertines ix with knives, then bolts for the exit proclaiming: “ voilà comme l'innocence et la vertu savent triompher de la scélératesse“[ innocence and virtue conquer crime].

The quantity and -above all- quality of an actor's aventures [adventures] determine his/her ultimate fate. Zamè for example, the 'divine' and eutopian ruler of a paradise island, has travelled around the world 20 years in his youth to come to his 'messianic' level of philosophie and wisdomx, thus proving how effective peregrinations can be by a physical, mystical and allegorical standpoint; for Léonore peregrinations and philosophie go hand in hand (Sade 17951:926). There are three kinds of aventures in the novel: libertine aventures (Sade 1795-1:184xi); the (useless) adventures of virtuous people, consisting mostly in innocent group promenades in the countryside (Sade 1795-1:79ss ); literary aventures (Sade 1795-1:6 ) consisting in the unusual interaction on paper between diverse and opposed caractères, and 'the' real adventures narrated in the extended digressions: Léonore's -the novel's self-assertive heroine- rule of thumb finally

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570037554 SERGIO ZENERE LLM2002D Dissertation level II September 2008 is to always prefer new dangers, which might as well turn for the worst, in order to escape the present ones.

It is not by sheer luck that the only two main actors in the novel who survive and prosper are those who are widely travelled and have therefore 'passed' Sade's ordeal and proficiency test to know what mankind is all about, “the most essential form of knowledge” (Sade 1800, no page). It is important here to mind what is Sade's fashion of understanding human existence in the context of the universe: human life is intended as worthless appendage and consequence of primordial appetites (for example sexual urges, whence procreation ) at the mercy of hectic natural forces under the merciless gaze of unconcerned heavens, in a universe whose only ethics is highly situational.

Aline is the young and virtuous daughter of hardened libertine magistrate ( robin) de Blamont, Président of a Parlement; her equally virtuous mother (of illustrious birth, unlike Aline's father ) shares her deep wishes to marry Monsieur de Valcour, noble d'épée of illustrious lineage yet very modest wealth, definitely driven to insolvency in the aftermath of a duel xii.

Monsieur de Blamont, though, has completely different plans, and intends to wed Aline to Dolbourg, his disciple and repulsive, aging yet wealthy financier and fermier généralxiii, as a part of a conspiracy that includes incest ( “pleasures of the gods” in the Président's words in Sade 1795-1:1527; incest plans are clearly documented also in Sade 1795-1:189,1596 xiv ). De Blamont's accomplished libertine attitude is easily summarized: on page 760 he makes clear that “his 6

570037554 SERGIO ZENERE LLM2002D Dissertation level II September 2008 daughter belongs to him”; on pages 212 (Sade 1795-1 xv ) and 770 (Sade 1795-2 ) he would like to inspect Aline's body to make sure “the merchandise” is flawless; on page 776 he refers to Aline as a “slave”(Sade 1795-2); on pages 775 and 777 he threatens Aline and menaces to segregate her for the rest of her life, and so forth.

The novel presents a series of more or less self-contained histoires (for example Histoire

de Valcour; histoire de Sophie; Histoire de Sainville et Léonore; Histoire de Zamè; Les délires de l'amour, nouvelle Espagnole etc ) that cover from the zenith to the nadir of the romanesque, while the sensible element is mostly limited to the main narrative they pivot around, with the exception of histoire de Sophie. The digressions portray utopian (Braga 2002; Corlan-Ioan 2006) escapades to exotic lands by land or sea, cannibals, impalers, the origin of the Nile, bands of thieves, millions worth of gold ingot from 'eutopian' xvi paradise islands, murderous and crooked magistrates and officials from various countries, ambushes and death machines, assumed xvii, unknownxviii, multiplexix, stolenxx or recoveredxxi identities, ample amounts of debauchery/crime and even ampler amounts of philosophical tirades and 'instructive' events.

This study cannot analyze this subject, but it is interesting to add how Sade typically recycles his characters, thus -as a mere example- we see Sophie ( Dolbourg's victim in Aline et

Valcour ) as another name for Thérèse/Juliette (the virtuous yet persecuted heroine ) in Les infortunes de la vertu (1787); we see a Rompa Testa and a Brisa-Testaxxii ( a Bohèmien in Aline et Valcour and again a “chef des brigands” in Histoire de Juliette, 1801 ), whose unoriginal 7

570037554 SERGIO ZENERE LLM2002D Dissertation level II September 2008 etymology comes from 'head-breaker' ( rompere/briser+testa/teste ); we see that Rose and Sophie in Aline et Valcour are clones of Sade's heroines: the degenerate Justine and the virtuous Juliette. Last but not least, virtuous and sensible Valcour morphs into libertine Valcourt in an unpublished fragment ( Kozul in Sade et le grand guignol 1998: 9-11 ). As well, no matter the care he puts into chiseling them, Sade's actors are eminently disposable and readily disappear from narratives having dragged their heels for hundreds of pages, whenever they are no longer useful to utter or listen to yet another philosophical tirade, or to undergo yet another ordeal, perhaps serving as example to start the next philosophical harangue.

The novel ends in a decimation of Gothic undertones akin to Romantic Bildungsroman: le

Président orchestrates the poisoning of la Présidentexxiii because she had tried to foil his plans and -as a result- Aline commits suicide once in her father's hands; shocked Dolbourg reforms and retreats in poverty and solitude; after gruesome sexual violence, Sophie disappears, probably locked up in a convent; the Président flees the country and absconds abroad once his crimes are made public, until robbers waylay and murder him in England; around the same time Valcour dies of heartbreak in his religious retreat. These developments are compressed in a few pages, most of which in an “editor's note” at the very end, which proves how disposable Sade's characters might be.

Some critics emphasize the novel's importance: “Aline et Valcour -...- [which] has been almost completely

neglected by people writing about de Sade, appeared to me so full of 8

570037554 SERGIO ZENERE LLM2002D Dissertation level II September 2008 pregnant ideas” ( Gorer, 1934, no page ); “ Aline et Valcour n'est pas un roman philosophique quelconque mais le roman philosophique par excellence “ (Lanni 2004, no page ). The novel is a compendium of XVIII century literary and commonplace topoi (Lanni 2004; Perrier 2007:164 ) and belongs to the romanesquexxiv genre. Since romanesque -between 1725 and 1760- had been accused of corrupting morals (Reuland 2003:140), Sade (like other authors in the field) felt at some point compelled to write a literary manifesto similar to Philip Sidney's.

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570037554 SERGIO ZENERE LLM2002D Dissertation level II September 2008 2. GRANDSTAND PLAY

A note of caution shall be issued first, concerning Sade's 'grandstand play attitude', though.

To give only one example, Lély (1967:147ss ) discusses Sade's claim concerning a vibrant letter of protest he would have personally slipped in Louis XVI's vehicle in the hectic moments of his re-entry from Varennes: “Exhibitionnisme civique, ou effet de la contagion d'une névrose collective?” [ exhibitionism or collective neurosis? ] asks Lély (1967:147). The letter exists, yet did Sade deliver a copy within the King's reach? Lély suggests ( 1967: 149ss ) that was an 'ethically situational' attempt to appeal to maximalist tendencies during Terreur to secure the favor of extremists in power at that point in time. Hayes (1989:30 ) uses the term “pedantic” xxv to aptly describe this 'grandstand' and ad nauseam attitude that could have costed the marquis his life and costed him some serious trouble indeed.

Real life meets fiction, or fiction meets real life, and Sade takes also pride -in Aline et

Valcour- in the fact he (in “editor's notes”) or the figments of his imagination had 'announced' the revolutionxxvi: a country clergyman predicts “the demise of this modern Babylon of yours” (Sade 1795-1:141 ); Zamè - 'divine and solomonic' lawgiver and philosopher-king of an eutopian paradise island in the southern seas- not only (Sade 1795-1:609ss ) tells the fortune of France, but of the Spanish colonies as well and utters shocking statements about the United States, foretelling that -akin to the “Republic of Romulus”- one day they will “make the world tremble”, thus anticipating many theorists and scholars of international relations; Zamè 10

570037554 SERGIO ZENERE LLM2002D Dissertation level II September 2008 furthermore claims to have introduced the cult of the 'Supreme Being' (Sade 1795-1:727); Brigandos (Sade 1795-1:1140 ), the 'Lycurgus' of a band of petty criminals and surrogate Robin Hood, not only announces the revolution in France, but also the occupation of Spain and so forth: the tradition of 'literary indebtedness ' xxvii typical of Sade is kept quite alive, while arguments for Brigandos' convoluted geopolitical theories are 'borrowed' ( at times nearly verbatim ) from Kant's geopolitical utopia Perpetual peace (1795).

Sade as well either 'borrows from' or joins most popular philosophical debates of his times, that the figments of his imagination discuss at length; for example 'divine' Zamè (hailed as “ami des hommes” in Sade 1795-1:668 ) 'borrows' extensively from real-life ami des hommes, Victor de Riquetti, marquis de Mirabeau xxviii and later criticizes social contract theories (Sade 17951:681ss). Next Raynal- famous for his anti-colonialism ante litteram in his 1770 treatisexxix- is also victim of the marquis' 'literary indebtedness', for once acknowledged ( Sade 1795-1:598 note 1 ): his arguments against vast empires and overpopulation return over and over in the novel. Mercantilisme is repeatedly criticized from all angles in favor of physiocratie; among the many detailed, extended tirades uttered by various characters, 'messiah' Zamè explains ( Sade 1795-1:605ss ) how he banned commerce from his 'paradise island' as source of war and ill fate: the 'island of Eden' shares its surplus with poorer neighboring islands without compensation.

The novel is thus a concentrate of XVIII century commonplace topoi,

that Sade's clumsy

“pillage littéraire “xxx only makes more evident: as this study hopefully shows, Sade was only

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570037554 SERGIO ZENERE LLM2002D Dissertation level II September 2008 'joining the party' of the countless and acrimonious debates over a number of subject.

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570037554 SERGIO ZENERE LLM2002D Dissertation level II September 2008 3. COMING TO TERMS WITH (AUTO)BIOGRAPHY

The next step to take in this study is to take a stance concerning Sade's plentiful (auto)biographical references in Aline et Valcour (1795) and concerning Sade's biography in general. Scholars like LĂŠly and others have put considerable efforts into fine biographical research, yet (auto)biography will not concern me here, therefore I will only discuss a few selected (auto)biographical references from the novel and then completely abandon this topic.

Choosing Sade's biography as golden key to unlock the complexity of the novel may be legitimate, yet deprives the reader of a much broader perspective opening up if we consider the novel a strict by-product of Sade's times and not only of Sade's circumstances; or if we consider Sade as member of his social classxxxi. In other words I argue that a person in the same condition at a different time would have responded adopting different polemic images.

Now let's follow the abridged chronology xxxii Michel Delon established in Sade ĂŠcrivain (1991:16ss) and Sade (1972:139ss ) to focus on a few selected (auto)biographic suggestions from the novel. First of all Valcour, the unlucky hero of the central narrative, tells Aline that on his mother's side he was connected with the great houses of the kingdom, and on his father's side he was connected with the most distinguished nobility from Languedoc, and how he had enjoyed princely affluence in his youth: no description could fit the marquis better, since Sade's father was from an illustrious family from Provence, while his mother was related to a branch of the royal family. The fictional Valcour's fortune is also ruined xxxiii, and he mourns the loss of his 13

570037554 SERGIO ZENERE LLM2002D Dissertation level II September 2008 parents as loss of guidance, protection and societal 'connections' (Sade 1795-1:47-48), much like Sade may have.

Irresponsible, eccentric, a womanizer, with bizarre sexual tastes, careless with his financesxxxiv, Sade was 'wed up' to Renée Pélagie de Montreuil, whose father was a wealthy

homme de robe and Président à la cour des Aides ; in the fiction, Sainville's father (Sade 17951:342) wants to orchestrate an arranged marriage with the daughter of a wealthy family for financial reasonsxxxv, and furthermore tirades against arranged marriages cannot even be counted. Struggle with in-laws begun immediately, since Donatien ( Sade's name was Donatien Aldonse François ) would have preferred Rénée's younger sister, though, and would later honeymoon with her in Italy under assumed identity, thus offending his in-laws even more and convincing his mother-in-law that he needed to be restrained. Taken into custody for debauchery in 1763, his 'career' as a libertine progressed and at some point rumors spread (176871) denouncing the horrors of the marquis' house. He had in reality 'hired' Rose Keller, a idler (beggarwoman, descriptions vary ) to serve him, but once in his house, he had whipped her and so forth (April 3, 1768 ); Rose had been paid for her 'services', yet the matter would equally be reported to the police. As a result, utopian 'messiah' Zamè in the novel reiterates that any 'offense' should be compensated financially ( Sade 1795-1:694ss ) but that such compensation shall be enough and no further process shall take place, which would amount to “paying twice for the same crime”. Dom Gaspard (another of Sade's mouthpieces and enlightened Portuguese

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570037554 SERGIO ZENERE LLM2002D Dissertation level II September 2008 nobleman ) delivers a convolute and elaborate speech (Sade 1795-1: 913ss ) to mock and criticize religious crimes: it is not hard to pinpoint the marquis' anger for being tried for his own religious crimes (for example he had profaned a crucifix etc ). Later, the Parlement d'Aix sentenced Sade to death (September 3, 1772) in the aftermath of the affaire des bonbons: an event during which supposed aphrodisiacs were served ended in charges of poisoning being pressed (Parrat in Colloque d'Aix:51ssxxxvi ); no less than de Blamont (1795-2: 754ss ) in the novel praises the Aix Parlement for his efficiency and tells with relish the story of a young man arrested while he was paying a visit to his dying mother: a rendition of what happened to Sade himself (February 15, 1777 ); it is also important how de Blamont acknowledges that the victim was guilty of very minor, mostly opinion-related, crimes. Again, in Sade's fictionalized account ( Sade 1795-1:614, note 1 ), a career in the military (which Donatien had gone through early in his life, like any other important nobleman ) can only skew one's moral compass: another way to blame society for his own faults. As well, the cry of despair of (nearly) perpetually captive Sade also inspires Zamè who -in the fiction- criticize the kind of detention Donatien was subjected toxxxvii; later again, Zamè (Sade 1795-1:659) criticizes detention as “hateful mean” for families to punish members.

These few examples shall suffice to acknowledge the important presence of (auto)biographic references in the text. My point, however, is that (auto)biography alone cannot explain the depth of Sade's virulent critique. The (auto)biographic element seems to me 'lost' in

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570037554 SERGIO ZENERE LLM2002D Dissertation level II September 2008 a sea of commonplace topoi typical of Sade's times, which the modern reader easily ignores. In fact XVIII century France was being exposed to an incessant barrage of heated diatribes opposing different classes and clusters of society over the very foundation of society itself, fueled by a literal deluge of pamphlets and works, both clandestine and official. Every epoch has its own self-serving taboos, circular hysterias and rhetorical obsessions worth of ongoing memorialization; XVIII century's commonplace topoi may appear grotesque or nonsensical to the modern reader, but they appeared of paramount importance to people back then, which justifies Sade's overuse of the same in the novel. It is important readers pay attention to those

topoi much like they would to today's objects of hysteria and memorialization like hate crimes, World-War II and its legacy, historical revisionism and so forth.

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570037554 SERGIO ZENERE LLM2002D Dissertation level II September 2008 II. THE NOVEL IN THE CONTEXT OF XVIII CENTURY FRANCE

1. THE RULING CLASSES IN XVIII CENTURY FRANCE

The worst mistake modern readers could make is thinking that social confrontation and divides in XVIII century France were limited to the divide between nobility and commoners, whether it be the vast mass of faceless, exploited peasants or more affluent burghers; or to mere ideological divides concerning what public interest and representation of the same consisted in; this short resume -limited in scope, accuracy and thoroughness- will try to put the situation -and relative literature- into perspective, so that the novel may hopefully be seen from a new angle.

This work first introduced the novel to emphasize how different Aline et Valcour is from (stereo)typical 'sadist' literature, and how Sade wanted this novel to become his literary proficiency test and philosophical opus to the public to bring him recognition. Later this study forewarned of Sade's pedantic and glamorous attitude at times bordering on mythomania, so that his statements may be taken with a grain of salt without denying the underlying reality they novelize. Next, Sade's (auto)biography has been concisely considered in order not to give the impression that this study tries to negate its importance.

Nobility had ceased being a homogeneous body politic, if ever it was one, since the gradual and progressive introduction of a second strand of nobility, entirely dependent on the crown 17

570037554 SERGIO ZENERE LLM2002D Dissertation level II September 2008 and serving the same in the growing financial and judicial apparatus of the burgeoning nationState in its absolutist incarnation ( XV century onwards ). Robe had therefore been perceived as an 'alternative' to épee [sword], because robe's privileges were awarded entirely by the crown, which at first granted them occasionally and gradually gave raise to a massive machine to literally mill and sell positions, offices, etc, to the highest bidder, at all kinds of expenditure levels and in turn bestowing privileges of varying degrees upon the purchasers.

While only in 1604 (édit de la Paulette) had the sale of offices been formally sanctioned, it had grown all the more frequent for wealthy ( or just wealthy enough ) commoners to buy (Doyle 1984 ) commissions, offices and other dignities, thus acquiring nobility for themselvesxxxviii and/or hereditary nobility for their descendants; each commission brought a special set of privileges: the bigger the privilege, the higher the price. The growing and perpetual financial crisis of the absolute monarchy increased its dependence on wealth that commonersxxxix on paper 'lent' to the crown, thus negating the theoretical possibility of the crown ever 'redeeming' or 'buying back ' xl those commissions/charges/offices, due to lack of funds; in 1522 bureau des parties casuelles became a sort of stock exchange of offices for sale (Doyle 1984xli). Robe (as a body corporate) would in turn progressively try to clean its act up, morphing into a relatively closed order, much like épée. In the late XVIII century the financial ( Boscher 1972xlii ; White 1989xliii; Moro 1989-1:100ss) and political situation was dramatic.

In turn, declining noble families sans trace d'anoblissement - whose nobility was often 18

570037554 SERGIO ZENERE LLM2002D Dissertation level II September 2008 referred to as “immemorial” and typically memorialized as dating back from the Frankish tribes that had once conquered the land- started to 'marry up' with wealthy robins. High nobility and

haute robe - that is the upper strata of the group enjoying the greatest titles and privileges- led a more conspicuous group of hobereaux and basse robe living on the edge of the realm of privilege and often falling into poverty or insolvency; outside the realm of official privilege they led subordinate categories, namely the growing number of people working in connection with the legal and financial system in the case of robe, so that strikes ( Moro 1989-2:153-158 xliv ) paralyzing the judicial system could be routinely ignited to support parlements throughout the XVIII century, although haute robe typically kept its zealous supporters at a distance.

Robe and épee started competing for the crown's favors, while the crown had lured even Peers and high nobility away from their once exclusive provincial domains under the promise of pensions and lucrative commissions: the very idea of nation-State conflicted heavily with regional patriotism and allegiance to semi-independent landlords, yet France at the time was still characterized by internal customary borders and other debris of the coming together of diverse lordships and traditions (Treasure 1986:44,46)xlv, which would literally implode later during the bloody infight between Girondins ( accused of the crime of “federalism” ) and

Montagnards.

Parlements represented the remains of medieval check and balances (the Paris parliament dated back from XIII century ), with provincial parliaments gathering around the Parlement de 19

570037554 SERGIO ZENERE LLM2002D Dissertation level II September 2008

Paris (granted sort of superior status and hereditary only since 1664 ). Evolving from the King's council, these courts administered justice in a number of domains, both civil and criminal, and -most of all- registered the King's decrees and other laws, after checking they conformed with the constitution of the kingdom; other privileges were absorbed over time, with progressive emphasis on financial matters and absolute principles (and with the Paris parliament granted a central position).

The fact that the so-called constitution ( Valensise 1988 ) consisted in a garbled mass of statutory, customary and historical antecedents burdened by byzantine casuistry -often adapted to the peculiarities of formerly independent provinces- made easy for parliaments to lock horns with the crown, at times exciting public outrage denouncing ( Salmon 1994; Miller 2003 ) -with libertarian undertones- despotismxlvi and the violation of customary rights, especially in later centuries and as robe's powers increased; it was clear that over time robe had developed an identity of its own, of which the crown had to be aware. When at some point the recently reopened Paris parliament refused to register new fiscal decrees, Etats Généraux seemed the only solution; last reunited in 1614, the 1789 reunion of the Etats Généraux would ignite the outbreak of the Revolution. In 1614 debates had already come to a stalemate over abolition of the sale of offices (requested by épée) and abolition of sinecure in favor of nobility (requested by commoners).

Due to the chaotic situationxlvii of land, property and fruition rights, burdened by 20

570037554 SERGIO ZENERE LLM2002D Dissertation level II September 2008 byzantine casuistry and jurisprudence again, fraught with exemptions of all kinds, collection of taxes, royalties and duties, both from the private domains of nobility to the benefit of said nobles, and from the subjects in general to the benefit of the crown, had been increasingly entrusted to fermiers, while robe adjudicated (Salmon 1994xlviii). Affermage basically meant that a fermier (typically a very wealthy commoner or financier ) would pay a lump-sum to the title holder, and be from then on in charge of recovering his investment from the actual payment of the many taxes, monies and royalties; a fermier could therefore make less, or typically more money than he had actually paid to secure the position, often acting in his own interest rather than the title holder's.

Much the same procedure was followed by the State, at first recruiting a number of

traitants and partisans (other designation of fermiers in different situations:Treasure 1986:80 ) who would secure the exploitation of small clusters/areas of the taxation spectrum, and over time accepting bigger offers from fewer of them and ultimately (since 1626) giving birth to

ferme générale: one individual allocation to exploit the whole universe of State revenue, in turn backed up by a group of fermiers généraux able to sustain the gigantic financial operation and thus reaping equally massive profits. In 1648 the Paris parliament (the most eminent of all) barred traitants from membership (Treasure 1986:324); before the Revolution four quarters of nobility were required for many offices de robe. Haute robe thus tried to severe (at least on paper and at least to a degree ) its ties with the 'embarrassing' social class of traitants (nearly a

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570037554 SERGIO ZENERE LLM2002D Dissertation level II September 2008 synonym of financiers and fermiers ), whose vampiric business tendencies scandalized the society at large; wealthy people still remained robe's new blood, and in the state of affairs of

Ancien Régime, such wealth could only be amassed at the expenses of somebody else. In 1769 the importance of ferme générale diminished, though, with the establishment of régie, whose share of revenue was raised directly by the government. Still fermiers (both those financing the State and those financing individual aristocrats ) earnt a reputation of ruthless businessmen of fabulous wealth, who would do just anything and would resort to brutality and legally sanctioned plunderxlix to extract as much profit as possible from their fermes: affermage -and the inequalities it generated- was thus one of the main reasons of growing discontent.

In the novel we see a picture of the times, since Sade handles Blamont and Dolbourg (and their surrogates ) as parts to represent the whole, as rhetorical figures standing in for an entire social class or profession rather than individuals. Repeatedly does Blamont self-identify with his class/profession as a corporate body; a typical example occurs in Sade (1795-1:110-111) when Dolbourg and Blamont, under the assumed identities of Delcour and Mirville, address each other:”Oh! Mais vous gens de robe, dit M. de Mirville, les plaintes vous excitent. -...- il est vrai -dit Delcour- que les financiers sont supçonnés d'un coeur bien plus sensible” [ You magistrates find grievances exciting, said M. de Mirville; it is then true -said Delcour- that you financiers supposedly have a much softer heart]. Sade's main characters are typically larger than life and engineered to epitomize the class they embody in the novel: the Count of Beaulè is all-around

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570037554 SERGIO ZENERE LLM2002D Dissertation level II September 2008 the pure breed male chivalrous nobleman, much like madame de Blamont is his female counterpart; the justice system is all-around perverted, and so forth; the kingdom appears in deep trouble.

The XVIII century dominates the novel: madame de Blamont was once wed to the

Président because her father wanted to make a good financial deal, while she would have preferred the courtship of le Comte de Beaulèl, a true soldier and a gentleman of illustrious birth, yet not as wealthy as de Blamont; in turn le Président ridicules his wife's pride in her birthli and considers her aristocratic friends a bunch of self-important 'all show no go' people: Sade's aristocratic nostalgia or mere literary device? Later de Blamont wants his daughter to marry fermier général Dolbourg, whose wealth is colossal lii, while Valcour stands no chances, because his own rente has been dilapidatedliii by incompetent fermiersliv. Much like wealthy people ( traitants, financiers... ) constituted the antecedents of robe and haute robe, in the novel Dolbourg is presented as an imperfect, flawed copy of his friend and mentor Blamont, who often criticizes his hesitations and makes fun of him as a simpleton in need of his training ( Sade 17951:206;851ss; 857; 1522). On page 857 Blamont compares Dolbourg to himself: “tu as la moitié moins de plaisir a faire le mal, parce que tu ne le raisonnes pas” [you reap half the pleasure from your evil deeds because you don't rationalize them]. This is a very crucial concept: Sade idolizes nature as ruthless force whose only ethics is situational, in turn likened to domination and tyranny (in the words of dom Lopes, Sade 1795-1:982 ); to a justification for evil deeds (in the

23

570037554 SERGIO ZENERE LLM2002D Dissertation level II September 2008 words of a rapistlv, Sade 1795-1:1159 ); to the ultimate source of crime (according to Bersac, Sade 1795-1:1356 ); to a source of awe ( Valcour, Sade 1795-1:316 ); to an 'invisible hand' behind the development of history (Sade 1795-1:1358); to a perpetual horizon to defy and go past ( LĂŠonore, Sade 1795-1:1411) and so forth. Robe, however, perverts Sade's theology and his magistrates are 'against the natural order', the nemesis of philosophielvi, although they are consummate criminals.

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570037554 SERGIO ZENERE LLM2002D Dissertation level II September 2008 2. ROBE AND THE CROWN

Robe first gradually rose to power swimming with the tide of nation-State building; it was also common to grant Parlements to newly acquired provinces as an expedient fund raising move (Treasure 1986:327lvii). Over time it grew all the more important for the crown to have a (supposedly) dependent ally (Treasure 1986:84) to pit against épée. According to interpretations given high credit, high nobility could dispute to the crown the privilege of leading and embodying the kingdomlviii; furthermore -according to some popular variations- the King was -essentially and after all- a peer among Peers ( les ducs et pairs ), thus memorializing the legend of Frankish tribes and their (pseudo-democratic) councils. Robe could not claim such immemorial and illustrious antecedents, because offices were being ( or had once been ) sold to the highest bidder, irrespective of his birthrights; therefore robe became the natural enemy of

épée, although it must be emphasized how noble families tended to intermarry for financial, political or expedient reasonslix, and that expedient and transient alliances between robe and

épée against the crown were not unheard of (for example during the intestine unrest referred to as fronde ). The crown could only benefit from the litigiousness, pedantic casuistry and archival research that robe (essentially a class of civil servants literally owning their position ) was able to display, when it came to defend the crown (Treasure 1986:55; Cobban 1950) from papal interferencelx (gallicanisme)lxi and to debunk épée's constitutional theories, if need be.

Gradually (and very early) robe started to develop its own identity and to lock horns with 25

570037554 SERGIO ZENERE LLM2002D Dissertation level II September 2008 the crown in a number of occasions. The crown often retaliated with lit de justice, a choreographic and impressive ceremony during which the King himself, Peers, bishops and other high dignitaries visited the recalcitrant parliament. Without debate, the monarch proceeded to put his chancellor in charge of reading a royal edict to pass the parliament's resistance by; after all, parliaments represented the crown by proxy, and the King's physical presence automatically superseded any other authority: a few or entire groups of magistrates could then be exiled or confinedlxii.

Henri IV had been forced to enact a series of lits de justice to register the Nantes edict ending (although only temporarily ) civil and religious wars; in 1641 an edict forbade parliaments to discuss State affairs; Louis XIV (who for example granted lettres de noblesselxiii to the Metz parliament Louis XIII had established ) in 1673 stripped parliaments of their right to debate registration ( droit de remontrance) of edicts and laws. Parliaments typically consolidated their position by lending their support to regents embodying weakened royal authority: in 1715

robe again sided with regent prince Philippe d'OrlĂŠans (Le Roy Ladurie 1984) much like they had sided in the past with regent queen Maria de' Medici: Louis XIV's will that warranted limited powers for the regent was invalidated, and the regent thus granted droit de remontrance again.

The last blow came in 1771 when chancellor and robin Maupeou (in what is often referred to as coup ) replaced parliaments with councils staffed with mere civil servants on the State's 26

570037554 SERGIO ZENERE LLM2002D Dissertation level II September 2008 payroll. When Louis XVI brought parliaments back in 1774, hatred (Van Kley 1991:454-455 lxiv ) towards the Maupeou reform was so strong that in Aix the re-opened parliament refused to use the same building where “intruders” had once assembled (Alpheran 1848:25 lxv ). In what is often referred to as “pre-revolution”(Van Kley 1991; Moro 1989-2; Doyle 1972), parliaments and

robelxvi gave common currency to (“France's rapid political education from 1787 to 1789 “ Van Kley 1991:464 ) and started to preach ideas that -although far from nihilism and maximalism that will soon dominate the upcoming revolution- still flirted with popular discontent and fueled hopes of (relatively) radical reforms while exposing and denouncing in glamorous terms pitfalls and inconsistencies in the state of affairs under the catchy names of despotism and overpowering ministries. Massively excluded from election to revolutionary assemblies (that saw basse robe on the raise ), haute robe helped considerably with making the event possible.

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570037554 SERGIO ZENERE LLM2002D Dissertation level II September 2008 3. THE CROWN AND THE WORLD OF NOBILITY Having bestowed considerable powers upon robe, the crown had over the centuries found an hard nut to crack (Linton 1995lxvii), especially in the late XVIII century (Doyle 1970); still

robe -born out of offices sold wholesale to the highest bidder- epitomized the raise of nationState in its impersonal incarnation, which had been the crown's most cherished wish and was especially true in France in a long period that witnessed the gradual acquisition of diverse territories whose ethnic, legal and cultural heritage was very dissimilar. As history shows, much of the struggle the crown incurred dealt with the pacification of the heterogeneous zone later named France. Still, every epoch's psyche is haunted by a few selected events worth of circular memorialization and subjected to hysterical debate: here are the most important from the French XVIII century.

Throughout the raise of absolute monarchy different constitutional theories had gotten -and in turn lost- mainstream status. Typically, each important party had its own elaborate and convolute constitutional theory; such was the case of French protestants or Huguenots lxviii, who published many treatiseslxix expounding a more liberal view of the State and wanted to antagonize unsuitable monarchs, in opposition to theorists of absolutism (for example Bossuet ) preaching pious submission to divine monarchs. Later Jansenism lxx ( Le Roy Ladurie 1984 ) colored the debate involving Crown, Pope and Parliaments in the wake of the new heresy and found robe ready to side with moderate Jansenism lxxi in the defense of gallicanisme. Jansenism 28

570037554 SERGIO ZENERE LLM2002D Dissertation level II September 2008 became popular enough among robins, and many of them used their legal expertise and consummate rhetoric trying to advance Jansenist causes in court, hidden under the fig leaf of the usual diatribes against abuses, injustices, in defense of 'the true' constitution and so forth. With its well-structured doctrine fueling dissent against the Church - guilty of having lost its primeval purity- and its concept of virtue, Jansenism was another laboratory of constitutional theories and interpretations, which would play a role during the Revolution as well; Epée had typically sided with traditional Catholicism.

While Huguenots and Jansenism could be seen as temporary nuisances, épée had its own long-standing constitutional and private attitudes that -although not always impeccablepermeated the society as a whole (Moro 1989-1:89-141; 179-255). Confusion and urge to find the perfect constitutional concoction compounded in the XVIII century with the unrest and implosion of known constitutions, namely Poland ( Belissa n.d ) and Sweden ( Wolff 2005; Barton 1972), in a geographical area of traditional French influence (for example Louis XV's wife was the daughter of a dethroned King of Poland ); this explains how Sade's fictional heroes debate constitutional issues, and Poland is explicitly cited as model for the dystopian African kingdom of Butua (Sade 1795-1:478).

In short, Peers tended to memorialize their past in the portrayal of Frankish conquering tribes, their pseudo-democratic councils and a monarch essentially as 'a peer among Peers'.

Theorists ( Moro 1989-2: 38ss; Moro 1989-1:256ss ) such as Fénélon and especially 29

570037554 SERGIO ZENERE LLM2002D Dissertation level II September 2008 Boulainvilliers blamed on the crown and its unholy alliance with commoners (best epitomized in their raising status as robe ) the progressive decline of nobility and other ills such as the sale of officeslxxii; they preached pride in noble birthrights lxxiii and fight against enemies of the same in a medieval nostalgia for a mythical past inhabited by semi-independent rulers and a collegial incarnation of le corps mystique de l'Etat, with accents reminiscent of the concept of class struggle popularized in the XIX and ignited in the XX century; an inverse doctrine in favor of the crown had come from XVI century theorist Loyseau lxxiv. Le duc de Saint-Simon preached a reform empowering conseils staffed with Peers as main centres of decision and policy-making, which seemed to materialize during the ephemeral phase of the regency after the death of Louis XIV. Robe, however, had its own self-serving version ( Moro 1989-2: 42ss ) of the legacy of the mythical Frankish tribes, and haute and basse (or courte) robe led by parlements claimed to be the true custodians of the constitution and law of the kingdom; after all, they were officially sworn into office to uphold the constitution and law of the kingdom, not to follow this or that minister in his eccentricities, perhaps guilty of swaying the monarch.

It was during the regency, when its power and the theory of conseils seemed to gain momentum, that high nobility lost a symbolic yet very important battle: the tentative regime ceased with regency, never to resurface. Orchestrated by Saint-Simon and other eminent Peers,

Pairie tried as a corporate body to settle the dispute with robe over what true nobility consisted in. The casus belli started -according to Saint-Simon- in 1643, when Peers objected that the

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570037554 SERGIO ZENERE LLM2002D Dissertation level II September 2008

premier président of the Paris parliament ought to take his hat off while addressing Peers. The grotesque, iffy and frivolous dispute soon degenerated into a debate over vraie noblesse fueled by countless pamphlets and mémoires. Peers argued -in an historically accurate way- that their class had historically been charged with judicial duties, and that robins were in illo tempore mere clerks and burghers whose vivre noblement amounted to an usurpation lxxv; of course

Pairie (les ducs et pairs) was simply retelling the founding myth of the Frankish tribes who had once conquered the land, in their pseudo-historical account that owed to self-serving mythology more than it owed to thorough historical accuracy, and which ignored the reality of absolutism and nation-statehood. Much like causes célèbres of our days in the realm of 'racism', WWII legacies et similia, the dispute was still harshly debated in 1715.

Peers finally decided to strike the final blow and presented a document to the regent as corporate body: with régence the time had come. The tragicomic conclusion arrived with the

Mémoire contre les ducs et pairs présenté en 1716 à S.A.R Monseigneur le duc d'Orléans , in which the parliament debunked the founding myth in the following terms: 1. regency is the fruit of the parliament's casuistry (an accurate statement); 2. Peers are deluded thinking of themselves as descendants of the once (semi)independent great houses and landlords of the kingdom; 3. Peers are accused of scheming against undivided royal power ( another rather accurate statement); 4. Justice has always been a matter of the King's court and served in the King's name, therefore the parliament represents the King ( this is the nation-State version;

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570037554 SERGIO ZENERE LLM2002D Dissertation level II September 2008 Peers had in medieval times been legibus soluti in their domainslxxvi ); 5. robe and épée represent nobility and nobility is undivided ( this was the staple of robe's rhetoric ). Finally, the document ends with a merciless analysis of the true origins of many great houses from archival research, not (as they claimed ) “fabuleuses généalogies ” ( mémoire contre les ducs et pairs 1788: 198ss):

les ducs d'Uzès are offspring of some Bastet, in turn son of a pharmacist; les de la Trémouille descend from a court jester under Charles V; les de Bethune rank some Bethon, Scottish

aventurier, as their forefather; les Cossé Brissac used to claim illustrious Italian ancestry, but lately have been claiming to be from le pays du Maine; les Richelieu rank some Vignerot as their forefather, minion (perhaps homosexual ) of a cardinal who bequeathed his title to him when he married the cardinal's sister; les Saint-Simon are of very recent establishment, yet fabricated a fantasy genealogy for themselves; les la Rochefoucault are offspring of some George Vert, butcher and stable-man; les Neuville-Villeroy descend from a fish wholesaler under François I;

les Boulainvilliers were still unknown just 150 years earlier; les Nouailles descend from a domestic servant of a mere count; les de Mazarin rank a robin as ancestor, in turn son of a pharmacist; les d'Harcourt are offspring of a bishop's bastard; les Montespan are the illegitimate progeny of a modest chanoisne, and so forth. Pairie was devastated and could not fight back successfully; this may explain Sade's hatred for robins, always scheming, always piling up evidencelxxvii to use against their victims like a razor. Entrapment is for Sade another synonym of the justice system: Blamont would really love to entrap his sworn foe le Comte de Beaulè ( Sade 1795-1:1452ss), but the Count's reputation and high-powered contacts lxxviii prevent him from 32

570037554 SERGIO ZENERE LLM2002D Dissertation level II September 2008 doing so; this example only -opposing vile and scheming robe to chivalrous and gallant nobility of illustrious lineage, both despising each other highly- would be enough to support the point that this study tries to make arguing how Sade's stance against robe reflects the sentiment of high nobilitylxxix.

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570037554 SERGIO ZENERE LLM2002D Dissertation level II September 2008 4. NOBILITY AND REPRESSION Methods the crown employed to tame nobility were also lettres de cachet (Strayer 1987 ), and judicial repressions of duels. In the novel Blamont intrigues with Sainville's disgruntled lxxx father to have Aline arrested under a lettre de cachet reserved for Léonore and Sainville (Sade 1795-1:829ss), and elsewhere he oozes delight ( Sade 1795-1:1444) praising “ cette manière aziatique d'envoyer le cordon. “ [this way of pulling strings in an Asiatic fashion]. Lettres de

cachet were authorizations to take anyone into custody (confinement etc ) without process, by express order of the King; such authorizations could be purchased and were used by the government apparatus.

In the eyes of nobility duels originated from medieval ordeals or judiciary duels and fostered the sense of honor and birthrights. The crown -on the other hand- had always grappled with the issue (judiciary duels had been disciplined and progressively restrained into disappearance since the XIV century ), and Henri IV had prohibited duels d'honneur.

Richelieulxxxi ( for example Treasure 1986:216) finally thought the only law had to be the King's law, not honor or other reasons nobility alleged: in 1626 an edict punished duels with death penalty. Nation-State building again clashed with nobility's views; Louis XIV and Louis XVI also passed laws to that effect, although long periods of leniency and bursts of repression were common. This explains why the event that dooms (Sade 1795-1:50ss ) the novel's main narrative is no less than a duel. Readers learn that Valcour's estates were once worth 50.000 livres of 34

570037554 SERGIO ZENERE LLM2002D Dissertation level II September 2008 yearly rente, yet this rente has fallen to 2.000 ĂŠcus in the aftermath of a duel lxxxii: Valcour had first been confined under arrest and then forced to expatriate; his unexplained absence had both jeopardized his finances and entailed the termination of his military command, but he had no other choice, given the stiff penalties for the crime: Valcour was thus reduced on the brink of insolvency and could literally not afford to marry Aline.

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570037554 SERGIO ZENERE LLM2002D Dissertation level II September 2008 5. NOBILITY AS ARBITER ELEGANTIARUM

Epée was considered the best arbiter elegantiarum; wealthy commoners 'invested' in offices and vivre noblement was the most sought after lifestyle, in spite of aristocracy's gradual decline in terms of both financial and political power. This explains why the dream of most wealthy commoners was to amass wealth to buy commissions that granted nobility, acquire a

rente (annuity) and no longer bother with commerce or other activities because of dérogeance, that is the disputed norm that prescribed which occupations suited a nobleman and which ones disqualified him thus revoking his status lxxxiii. This explains why Danton and Robespierre -and many other prominent regicides and revolutionary leaders- at a point in time resorted to 'typographical nobility' as D'Anton and De Robespierre (Hampson 1988:30 ): vivre noblement was too much of a good thing, and nobility fascinated and attracted bourgeoisie (Hampson 1988 ); this also explains why (in Sade 1795-1) Dolbourg is often typed as d'Olbourg.

The crown had to come to grips with the slow decline of the kingdom; massive wealth was frozen and unproductive when commoners bought offices seeking anoblissement. Although the State could not do without such money, it experimented with social engineering lending full support to mercantilism: in 1597 an assembly of notables lent support to this doctrine, again reaffirmed in 1602-4 by Laffemas with the support of Henri IV; Melon in 1734 lxxxiv suggested commercialism again. Advisers to the crown (Bodin, Laffemas, Montchrétien... Treasure 1986:323 ) always suggested that economical self-sufficiency be reached. Sade perverts or 36

570037554 SERGIO ZENERE LLM2002D Dissertation level II September 2008 criticizes this stance (with the notable exception of autarky) with physiocratic arguments: 'messiah' Zamè in the novel has banned commerce as source of ill fate, and only acknowledges its marginal utility ( Sade 1795-1:606, 608 ) in case of production surplus or deficit, none of which is the case of France.

The crown lent his support to doctrines trying to lend prestige and anoblissement to wholesalers and other grocers and traders; this attitude struck a nerve in the society at large and branched into the never ending debate around what true nobility really was like. High nobility supported dérogeance, while the crown had often granted exemptions or interpreted it to reduce its meaning. Abbè Coyer started a debate (Smith 2000) around noblesse commerçante [trading nobility] in 1756 suggesting commerce as safeguard against nobility's decline; Sainte Foix, chevalier d'Arq, replied with la noblesse militaire going back to the founding myth of French high nobility; Moro (1989-1:337ss ) lists a deluge of pamphlets the doctrines of Coyer and Sainte Foix inspired. Coyer was a prominent philosophe as well and -like Sade- had written utopian novels (one making fun of high nobility in L'isle frivole ) and taken interest in the political situation in Poland ( Belissa, n.d, n.plxxxv ).

Coyer also saw luxury and superflu as having positive effects on the society at large; debates about luxury and sumptuousness were raging at the time, yet Coyer is still recruited today, for example in a commercial flyer from a Swiss bank ( Crédit Suisse:2003-4 lxxxvi); it is not far fetched to see Coyer as forefather of today's (over)spending habits and their intellectual 37

570037554 SERGIO ZENERE LLM2002D Dissertation level II September 2008 justification. Shovlin (2000-1) explains how luxury as status-symbol had first been disqualified under the wave of sensationalist philosophy questioning the concept of representation, reaching levels of heated critique in the late XVIII century and thus fueling antinobilism; Shovlin as well (2000-2:43) in his “reinterpretation of revolutionary antinobilism” tends to consider Coyer as a second rate figure: “ The author of La noblesse commerçante was a moderately successful literary figure who sought to acquire a more serious reputation for himself by turning to the new philosophic fad of the 1750s—political economy“. Kessler (n.d), however, puts the debate in perspective from the grievances of merchants in the XVII century lxxxvii.

In the novel, the country clergyman who announces an upcoming revolution also criticizes luxury because it causes poverty ( Sade 1795-1:137 ): Coyer's doctrine is turned upside down; later 'divine' Zamè criticizes luxury (Sade 1795-1:567), and describes luxe in terms of “ C'est d'une petitesse! D'un mauvais ton! “ (ibid:569): abolishing luxury is the only way to tame passions and thus crime (ibid:595). Advocacy of superflu is also present: Déterville, Blamont (Sade 1795-1:1563) but above all Léonore consider affluence perfectly legitimate lxxxviii and charity a waste of money (for example in the case of Sophie: Sade 1795-1:1496): it's not by chance that both Blamont and Léonore (father and daughter) love money and affluence even at somebody else's expenses and are judged to be to masters of manipulation lxxxix. The Revolution would soon put an end to Ancien Régime and its own conundrum.

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570037554 SERGIO ZENERE LLM2002D Dissertation level II September 2008 III. CONCLUSION This study first introduced Sade's novel Aline et Valcour (1795) as important moment in the continuum of the marquis' work; this novel was intended to be Sade's proficiency test as a

homme de lettres, his political and philosophical statement to the world, publicly endorsed to bring him recognition in opposition to his strictly 'obscene' works, whose authorship he often disavowed or underplayed. Romanesque and roman sensible are best represented in the composite mixture of philosophical tirades, misfortunes, utopian escapades to faraway lands inhabited in turn by cannibals and impalers or by 'divine' lawgivers, to embody Sade's core concept that only peregrinations and misfortunes impart true knowledge about what mankind is all about. This study then cautioned against Sade's leanings towards mythomania in both real life and fiction, and his recurrent topos of the prophecy in the novel. Selected (auto)biographical references in the novel have been subsequently discussed to show how this study does not try to negate the importance of (auto)biography to explain Sade's choice of polemic idols and discourse; yet this study hopefully shows how (auto)biography is not the only possible key to understand the marquis' choice: Sade can be fruitfully considered a member of his class (nobility) and the novel a strict byproduct of XVIII century. Casting (auto)biography aside, this work has put the situation of XVIII century French upper classes in a succinct historical perspective detailing the raise of noblesse de robe and its relationship with both the crown and

noblesse d'ĂŠpĂŠe ( to which Sade belonged). Sade's incessant rant and harsh critique of the justice 39

570037554 SERGIO ZENERE LLM2002D Dissertation level II September 2008 system (represented by noblesse de robe ) can be understood casting aside his personal judicial circumstances and paying attention to details in the novel that document his partisan allegiance in the fight for political supremacy between crown, noblesse de robe and noblesse d'épée. Only a social and historical perspective -as adopted in this study- can give the modern reader an insight into how important many concepts and minute historical events were in the XVIII century: only paying due attention to those problems may 'decode' the novel. Debates over

Vraie Noblesse and noblesse commerçante play a role in the novel as much as debates between physiocratie and mercantilisme modern readers may be more familiar with. The hectic political and philosophical atmosphere of the XVIII century returns in the novel at regular intervals and dominates it: eccentric constitutional theories, the debate about luxury, the condition of the imploding Kingdom of Poland, tirades copied nearly verbatim from Kant or Victor de Mirabeau, the enmity between robe and épée (represented by Valcour, madame de Blamont and her aristocratic friends ), and above all the extremely critical portrayal of noblesse de robe (epitomized by le Président de Blamont) and robe's antecedents (represented by financier

Dolbourg ). Sade's libertines are typically praised as perfect philosophes, yet consummate criminal de Blamont and his surrogates are portrayed unsympathetically as figure of speech representing noblesse de robe: this shows how the novel is a strict product of the XVIII century and of the debate between robe and épée.

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570037554 SERGIO ZENERE LLM2002D Dissertation level II September 2008 I certify that this dissertation is my own unaided work, that any work or material included in it which is not my own has been identified and that it conforms to the word limits. The word count is 8785, bibliography, endnotes, table of contents and title page excluded.

55

* Unless otherwise specified, all translations into English are my own, and shall be taken as free (and not conventional ) translations. It shall also be noted that some French typographical signs may be missing. i This term is often employed in literature to part Sade's less obscene works and literature related to Sade in general, from Sade's most obscene, thus sadist, works. ii The terms noblesse de robe and noblesse d'épée designate two intermingled, interlocked but very dissimilar halves of nobility. Robe, as the term explains, identifies nobility mostly serving the crown in the financial or judicial branches of the public administration; Epée designates nobility entirely grounded in ancestry and peerage and typically serving in the military. Things are not so clear-cut, however, as I'll try to show. iii While still describing moments of debauchery and torture, Aline et Valcour is an extremely tame and clean novel, having nothing in common with the stereotypical 'sadist' production. As a mere example, the word putain [whore] is spelled p..... iv The typographical signs “” and '' are used for two different purposes here. The sign “” indicates quotes from a text, while the sign '' indicates emphasis on my part. v “De même, la présence, dans le roman sensible, de héros libertins justifie le recours à des motifs et des situations narratifs propres aux écrits clandestins. “ (Abramovici in Sade et le grand guignol : 36 ); “A la simple lecture du roman, trois constatations préliminaires s'imposent, qui sont des données de fait dans l'architecture du livre.

D'abord la présence envahissante de la sensibilité: non seulement dans ses manifestations immédiates (scènes d'attendrissement et de larmes, soupirs, émotion procurée par les actes de bienfaisance, expression lyrique des sentiments etc .), mais aussi au niveau explicite, où elle est perçue comme telle par les personnages et leur sert à se définir eux-mêmes et à se définir entre eux: “ (Garagnon 1983:175 ) vi A few selected examples: “ Il était environ huit heures du soir, le ciel très obscur se remettait à peine d'un ouragan épouvantable, lorsque tout à coup nous entendismes un homme à cheval, faire retentir la cour de son fouet... de ses cris“ [arrival of Sainville and Léonore ](Sade 1795-1:323); “Mais je ne sais...cette joie est sombre; elle a un certain caractère de tristesse qui m'alarme; une voix tumultueuse et intérieure semble me dire que je fais comme les matelots qui se réjouissent pendant que l'ouragan se forme au dessus de leur testes” [Aline's fears] (ibid:1437); again on p.1439; “La feuille agitée par l'orage était moins tremblante que moi” [Sophie in the presence of de Blamont] (ibid:1499);p.1587. In Sade 1795-2: p.728, 734, 768, 796 and so forth. vii “la nature plus bizarre que les moralistes ne nous la peignent, s'échappe à tout instant des digues que la politique de ceux-ci voudrait lui prescrire; uniforme dans ses plans, irrégulière dans ses effets, son sein toujours agité, ressemble au foyer d'un volcan d'où s'élancent tour à tour, ou des pierres précieuses servant au luxe des hommes, ou des globes de feu qui les anéantissent” (Sade 1800, no page ) viii “Je dois enfin répondre au reproche que l'on me fit, quand parut Aline et Valcourt. Mes pinceaux, dit-on, sont trop forts, je prête au vice des traits trop odieux; en veut-on savoir la raison ? je ne veux pas faire aimer le vice; je n'ai pas, comme Crébillon et comme Dorat, le dangereux projet de faire adorer aux femmes les personnages qui les trompent; je veux, au contraire, qu'elles les détestent; c'est le seul moyen qui puisse les empêcher d'en être dupes; et, pour y réussir, j'ai rendu ceux de mes héros qui suivent la carrière du vice; tellement effroyables, qu'ils n'inspireront bien sûrement ni pitié ni amour; en cela, j'ose le dire, je deviens plus moral que ceux qui se croyent permis de les embellir; les pernicieux ouvrages de ces auteurs ressemblent à ces fruits de l'Amérique qui, sous le plus brillant coloris, portent la mort dans leur sein; cette trahison de la nature, dont il ne nous appartient pas de dévoiler le motif, n'est pas faite pour l'homme; jamais enfin, je le répète, jamais je ne peindrai le crime que sous les couleurs de l'enfer; je veux qu'on le voie à nu, qu'on le craigne, qu'on le déteste, et je ne connais point d'autre façon pour arriver là, que de le montrer avec toute l'horreur qui le caractérise. Malheur à ceux qui l'entourent de roses ! leurs vues ne sont pas aussi pures, et je ne les copierai jamais. Qu'on ne m'attribue donc plus, d'après ces systèmes, le roman de J*** ; jamais je n'ai fait de tels ouvrages, et je n'en ferai sûrement jamais; il n'y a que des imbéciles ou des méchants qui, malgré l'authenticité de mes dénégations, puissent me soupçonner ou m'accuser encore d'en être l'auteur, et le plus souverain mépris sera désormais la seule arme avec laquelle je combattrai leurs calomnies.” (Sade 1800, no page) ix “ Quatre hommes de cinquante à cinquante-cinq ans, vestus de robes de taffetas flottantes, qui les laissaient à moitiè nuds, se promenaient avec agitation“ (Sade 1795-1:1061) [ four half-naked men aged between 50 and 55 yo walked around restless]. Here we easily see that supposedly domineering and threatening libertines are portrayed as pathetic 'old geezers'. Much the same happens with Dolbourg (Sade 1795-1:18ss ) who looks as inane and grotesque

as anyone could ever be.

While this topic will not concern me here, Zamè's andragogy looks surprisingly similar to that of utopian socialist and philanthropist Robert Owen. xi “a mysterious cabinet reserved for the great adventures” (Sade 1795-1:184). It is about one of Blamont's and Dolbourg's many shared garçonnières, where they keep their numerous, at times captive, objects of sexual passion. xii Histoire de Valcour, pp.26ss in Sade 1795-1. xiiiBlamont refers to Dolbourg as such (Sade 1795-1:206) xiv To Dolbourg: “ Je preste sans céder [Aline]“ (Sade 1795-1:1596) xv When dealing with the edition from www.gallica.fr, page numbers refer to the page numbers of the .pdf file. xvi This term is used at times in literature to part 'dystopian' narratives whose outcome is bleak, gruesome or negative from 'eutopian' narratives that -while belonging to the realm of utopia as well- offer positive and comforting outcomes. xviifor example To begin a journey through the desert, Léonore camouflages as a “nègre”( Sade 1795-1:903 ); in their secluded world of debauchery, Blamont and Dolbourg go under the assumed names of Delcour and Mirville. xviiifor example Léonore ignores she's the lost daughter of the de Blamont couple. xix For hundreds of pages readers ignore who “Léonore” might be, and Elizabeth de Kerneuil is dealt with as a separate character. xx The inane libertine magistrates in the episode described in this study send their invitation under the assumed name of prominent Duc de Corteréal ( Sade 1795-1:1050 ). Another occasion for Sade to compare scheming, evil yet inane magistrates with true aristocrats whose prestige robins can only dream of. xxi Sophie (for a while mistaken for the lost daughter of de Blamont ) recovers her identity as daughter of a greedy peasantwoman; Léonore (fictional name in the digression ) recovers her identity first as “Elizabeth de Kerneuil”, then as “Claire de Blamont”. The Nouvelle Espagnole is about the tragedy that occurs when dom Juan murders Léontine once he thinks he cannot marry her because she's his half-sister. Upon confessing his crime, dom Juan learns how proof had been produced to the contrary, and he is shown written permission to marry her. xxii A possible explanation might be a 'novelization' of the tendence -during the most hectic period of the Revolutionto outlaw or discourage the use of Christian names. Another Bohèmien in the novel is aptly called Brise-Idoles. xxiii title of the wife of de Blamont, president of a parlement. xxiv“Si les romans dits philosophiques ont traditionnellement le lourd défaut d'être tributaires de la philosophie dont ils sont sensés être l'illustration, Sade fait preuve dans Aline et Valcour d'une imagination débordante, cumulant et multipliant les péripéties, surexploitant et poussant à leurs limites les ressources du genre – enlèvements, substitutions d'enfant, meurtres, fuites, reconnaissances, naufrages, rencontres d'anthropophages... “ (Lanni 2004, no page ) xxv“ Pedanticism is an oft-overlooked quality of much of Sade's writing, where the display of knowledge is frequently a form of aggression implying the inferiority of the listener -...- One cannot help remembering the impatience with Sade's annoying allusions to antiquity that was expressed in the arrest form: his denouncers were actually rather astute readers of his text, where pedanticism, power, and aggression are inextricably linked.“ (Hayes 1989:30) xxviThe novel bears the subtitle “written one year before the revolution”, although published in 1795 after substantial editing. xxvii Plagiarism plays a major role in Sade, in spite of his vehement critique thereof (“ Je ne connais pas de métier plus bas, je ne conçois pas d'aveux plus humiliant que ceux où de tels hommes sont contraints, en avouant eux-mêmes, qu'il faut bien qu'ils n'aient pas d'esprit, puisqu'ils sont obligés d'emprunter celui des autres.“ in Sade 1800, no page ); “Jean Deprun relève les emprunts de Sade à la philosophie biologique de son temps, notoirement à l'animalculisme de Leeuwenhoeck et Hartsoeker, au médecin Guillaume Lamy, à La Mettrie, Benoît de Maillet, Buffon, Robinet, Diderot ; à Fréret, enfin, que le futur pensionnaire de Charenton récrit en même temps Voltaire et d'Holbach “ (Terasse 1989, no page ). The question of Sade's plagiarism will not concern me here, though. xxviii Father of the revolutionary leader. L'ami des hommes around 1755 published a treatise ( Traité de la population ) in which he advocated the primacy of agriculture and criticized luxury, financiers, cupidity and so forth. He is ranked among the founders of physiocratie, mostly in antagonism to mercantilisme. In very general terms physiocratie criticized State intervention and exalted the importance of land and agriculture. Mirabeau was also an agronomist, partisan of provincial autonomy and aristocratic independence; most of Mirabeau's arguments return x

in Sade's fiction. xxix Histoire philosophique et politique des établissemens & du commerce des européens dans les deux Indes xxx Protesting his authenticity, the marquis writes of “un siècle de pillage littéraire, tel que celui-ci” (Sade 1795-1:1201, note 1 ). xxxi There is no consensus in literature about Sade's allegiance: Goulemot (in Colloque d'Aix, 1968) suggests that Sade embodies bourgeois, capitalist values; Tirelli Rocca (1980), Fink (1980) and others share this opinion with minor reservations, while Tumminelli ( 1998:120) and Coward ( in Paragraph 2000, n.p ) see him as entrenched nobleman. xxxii Another chronology, more detailed, can be found in Sade (1976:8ss); xxxiii The marquis underwent recurring bouts of financial misfortune. xxxiv He is taken into custody for debts in 1771 ( Delon in Sade 1972:141). xxxv “Croyez-moi, mon fils, de telles considérations valent mieux que tous les sophismes de l'amour: on a toujours besoin de vire et l'on n'aime jamais qu'un instant “ [my son, (financial) considerations are worth more than all the nonsense about love, for one will always need money, while love is just a transient thing] xxxvi “Quoi qu'il en soit, le Parlement d'Aix va réparer les torts causés au marquis de Sade par une procédure aussi' extraordinairement rapide que le fut celle de la condamnation , de 1772. Le 22 juin 1778, Me Gabriel, procureur du Marquis (c'est-à-dire son mandataire: nous dirions aujourd'hui son avou), présente une requête au Parlement et, le jour même, celui-ci la reçoit en la forme. Il suffira ensuite de trois semaines pour transformer la terrible condamnation de 1772 en une simple admonestation. Sade a certainement bénéficié de la grande réforme de 1774.

Maupeou avait supprimé les anciens Parlements qui furent rétablis le 12 novembre 1774. -Lés magistrats de carrière étaient ainsi revenus siéger et remplacer nombre de magistrats d'occasion qui étaient tout ..à la dévotion du Chancelier.

Or, l'on sait tout le rôle 'que jouait, pour le malheur de Sade, la rivalité entre son beau-père, le président de Montreuil, et le chancelier Maupeou. “ (Parrat in Colloque d'Aix:54). In 1778 Sade's 1772 death sentence is swiftly commuted into a simple warning. xxxvii “ Si un homme est coupable, il faut lui faire subir son jugement; s'il est innocent, il faut l'absoudre: toute opération faite entre ce deux points ne peut qu'estre vicieuse et fausse“ (Sade 1795-1:657)[if a man is guilty, then sentence him; when innocent, send him free. Anything other than this is vicious treachery]. xxxviii “An estimate that 2 or 3 per cent of French adult males were office-holders, on the other hand, seems entirely plausible. -...- In the later eighteenth century there were at least 3,700 civil ennobling offices in France -...- Less than half conferred first-degree nobility, meaning nobility transmissible from the first generation. Most brought gradual, or second-degree nobility, which meant the office must be held for 20 years or until death by two consecutive generations before the family's nobility became complete and transmissible. This tended to keep such offices off the market for long periods. “ (Doyle 1984:833-835) xxxix Estates and properties of aristocrats very often benefited from exemptions of varying degrees dating back from medieval times, when landlord were legibus soluti in their domain and took exclusive care of then rudimentary 'civic' or 'public' needs, for example military defence, irrigation etc. Even cities or provinces could benefit from exemptions. xl Trading offices was possible. Danton had in fact bought a position, which he later sold for a fortune. It is argued that the bargain might have been granted as remuneration for Danton's services to the crown at that point in time. xli “ Before reviewing the evidence on prices, it may be useful to remind ourselves of the extent of the venal system and the reasons why men bought offices. In I778 the department in charge of venality, the bureau des parties casuelles, estimated that there were at least 50,969 civil offices. This is certainly an underestimate, however. In 1791 the wigmakers of Paris claimed, not improbably, that there were 30,000 offices of wigmaker alone throughout France. The survey of 1778 put a capital value on the offices it counted of 584,700,176 1., but this too was an underestimate. It was based on declarations made for tax by office-holders themselves under an edict of 177 1, and the com- mittee of the National Assembly entrusted with planning the liquidation of the venal system in 1790 thought that it should be raised by at least a half. “ (Doyle 1984:832) xlii “ To reconcile the two events of that year, the economic and the political, we must begin, I think, by asking why the troubles that faced Terray and Maupeou all came to a head in 1770. There were three fundamental troubles: food was scarce, the Crown was nearly bankrupt, and the sovereign courts were rebellious; but none of these was new. -...- in 1772 occurred the bankruptcy of Prince Rohan-Guéménée, the first of a series of enormous princely bankruptcies in France. -...- It was precisely in the period from December 1769, when he was first appointed, until

February 1770, when he issued the first of his notorious financial measures, that Terray faced the possibility of a general government bankruptcy. Not that the few failures I have described were themselves enough to bring the royal finances to this catastrophic state: the point is, they were the trees that fell in a storm that threatened the entire forest.“ (Boscher 1972:18ss) xliii“ the partial bankruptcy of 1770, reform ministers made numerous econ- omies and restructured the government's financial administration. These changes allowed the Crown to finance its deficits successfully by borrowing until the middle of the 1780s -...- Yet, the crisis of 1788/89 could have been avoided if Louis XVI's ministers had adhered to the earlier modest reform program. Once the Parlement de Paris blocked new taxes and public pressure ruled out another bankruptcy, the only option left to the Crown was to monetize the debt, thus setting the stage for the Revolution's assignat inflation. “ (White 1989:545ss) xliv Strikes paralyzing the judicial system occur many times: 1718, 1720; from 1727 to 1730; 1732; 1751-52; 1756; 1762.

Irrespective of precise dates, the entire XVIII century is haunted by judicial strikes and every incident's repercussions may last for months or years. xlv Treasure ( 1986:44,46) argues that the climate of civil/religious wars in France and the diverse conglomerate of lordships, traditions and so forth had almost turned France into a bigger scale Switzerland or Germany. xlviMiller (2003) suggests that the denunciation of despotism arose out of the feeling of frustration of nobility, restrained in a corner of gradually diminishing financial privilege because of increasing and more direct fiscal pressure the State applied; “ While nearly all the judges repudiated such extremism, words such as citoyen and droits naturels et imprescriptibles had entered their vocabulary. How could the reactionary defenders of the hierarchical and corporate society of the ancien rigime entertain the revolutionary rhetoric of liberal individualism?“ (Salmon 1994:387). xlvii Treasure (1986:76) argues that taxation was casual, arbitrary and iniquitous. xlviii “ A clue to the resolution of this problem lies in an unexpected area: in eighteenth-century treatises on feudal obligations and the chaotic bodies of local customary laws that legitimated them. Members of the high robe were, after all, part of the land-owning aristocracy, and it has been said that the so-called feudal reaction of the time was actually promoted by the manuals of the feudistes on how to increase seigneurial revenue by redesigning the terriers.“ (Salmon 1994:388) xlix “ Homme vil-...- oublie-tu la bassesse de ton existance, le peu de dignité de ta place? -...- Homme lache, oui, je suis pauvre, mais le sang de mes ancètres coule pur dans mes veines; et je me reprends mois des fautes qui m'ont fait perdre mon bien, que je ne rougirais d'en posséder dont l'acquisition me couvrirait de honte -...-. Le peu de bien dont je jouis est à moi, et celui de l'homme que vous offrez a votre fille est la dot de la veuve, le patrimoine de l'orphelin et le sang du peuple“ (Sade 1795-1:1479ss) [Valcour to Blamont]. This could easily represent an aristocratic manifesto documenting the contempt towards robe and its antecedents, fermiers and financiers. l Madame de Blamont describes the count:”son grade dans la province -...- son ancienne amitiè pour moi -...- ce brave et honneste militaire -...- je ne trouve que lui en France qui nous peigne encore les franches vertus de l'antique chevalerie -...-, tout annonce en lui le religieux sectateur de ces loix si prodigieusement oublièes de nos jours...de ces loix précieuses, remplacées par de l'impertinence et des vices “ (Sade 1795-1:85 ); on page 305ss Aline daydreams about being the count's daughter, after discovering the count had once courted her mother. li De Blamont to his wife: “Veuillez-vous que ma fille éprouve avec son Valcour ce qui m'est arrivé avec vous?

Epouser du parchemin? -...- J'aimerais mieux vingt-cinq mille francs par an, que toutes ces généalogies, qui comme les vers phosphoriques , ne brillent que par l'obscurité, ne sont illustres que parce qu'on en voit pas l'origine, et dont on peut dire tout ce que l'on veut parce que le bout manque. Valcour est d'une bonne maison -...-mais moi -...- je veux de l'argent et il n'a pas le sou “ (Sade 1795-1:24 ) [do you want my daughter wed to a genealogy certificate, much like me and you? I'd rather have 25.000 francs a year than all those birthrights that -much like some wormsonly glitter in the dark, that are purported to be illustrious because none knows where they come from and of which one may claim just about anything, because they make no sense at all. Valcour is from a good family, yet money is what I expect, and he is broke]. lii “un monsieur d'Olbourg, financier riche a million“ (Sade 1795-1:187) liii “ Deux mille écus de rente furent tout ce qu'il me fut possible de recueillir des quatre fonds qui valaient jadis plus de cinquante mille livres annuels“ (Sade 1795-1:62-63) [Valcour's fortune dropped from 50.000 livres of yearly rente to 2.000 écus ].

liv “ Les gens d'affaires allaient dévaster mon bien“ ( Sade 1795-1:59 ) lv In Sade 1795-1:1154ss Brigandos prevents a rapist from fulfilling his desires at the expenses of a pubescent peasant girl. The rapist is no less than a law student travelling to take possession of an office his family has bought for him.

Partially uncorrupted because not yet a robin, the law student is another mouthpiece to criticize robe. lvi Blamont seems afraid of countries where philosophie (supposedly) rules (Sade 1795-1:283). lvii As a mere example, the Parlement of the city of Metz, granted in 1633, mentioned in Treasure 1986:327. lviii The doctrines dealing with concepts such as the corps mystique de l'Etat [mystical nature of the State as body politic ]. lix Descartes and Montesqieu belonged to noblesse de robe, for example. lx Parliaments had successfully sided with the crown to argue that the Church in France was under the tutelage and protection of the monarch ( Treasure 1986:55). lxi Although not schismatic like England, the crown of France had evolved a proprietary Church doctrine with secular elements, often referred to as gallicanisme. Papal bulls required registration, much like the crown's decrees/laws, and in some cases papal bulls' registration was either denied or retarded. lxiiMerrick (2006:35ss) discusses suicides whose causes are 'political', including those of robins. lxiiiNobility was granted to members of parliament after a specified number of years. lxiv “Chancellor Maupeou's constitutional coup or "revolution," as it was pejoratively called at the time, provoked a proparliamentary political opposition which called itself the "patriots" or the "party of patriotism." Whatever else it may have done, this "patriot party" composed, published, and distributed about five or six hundred books and pamphlets critical of Maupeou's "despotism" and in defiance of perhaps the most sustained censorial crackdown of the century. Like the prerevolutionary pamphlets of seventeen years later, these "patri- otic" pamphlets claimed to be defending a historical constitution, legitimizing the Parlement's right to resist the king's legislative will by virtue of its descent from Frankish national legislative assemblies or by virtue of a mandate given to it by the defunct Estates General. "Patriotic" pamphleteers who traced the sovereign courts' family tree to the Frankish national assemblies nonetheless thought that the parlements indirectly "represented" the nation, whereas those who alleged a mandate from the Estates General already called for the convocation of that representative institution on the grounds that a more direct form of national representation was now needed. “ (Van Kley 1991:454-455) lxv “l’année suivante, cette cour souveraine, ayant réellement ou feignant d’avoir des craintes sur la solidité de l’édifice, délibéra de l’abandonner et de transférer ses séances dans le couvent des dominicains, comme celles de la sénéchaussée au collège Bourbon. La cour des comptes, obligée de suivre cet exemple, se retira alors dans le couvent des grands-carmes, et les trésoriers-généraux de France dans celui des augustins. Cette délibération du parlement fut prise, il faut le dire, quoique personne ne l’ignore, en haine du parlement Maupeou, tenu pendant quelques années par les officiers de la cour des comptes.

Quoi ! Pourrions-nous siéger désormais, dirent ceux du parlement, dans des salles qu’ont occupées des intrus ?

Non, sans doute! Que ces salles disparaissent donc et le palais entier avec elles “ (Alpheran 1848:25 ) lxvi “ I would like to suggest, however, that there was also a specifically political dimension to the transformation, namely the Maupeou crisis -...-. Thus the rise of the barrister as political celebrity in France was not a slow, gradual development that obeyed the rhythms of some unseen process of modernization. It was sudden, even for its participants cataclysmic. “ (Bell 1991:111). lxvii “The Parlements of the ancien regime were the most powerful source of opposition to the monarchy, and on several dramatic occasions the magistrates of the Parlements claimed to be the representatives of the nation in the absence of the Estates General. “ (Linton 1995:180) lxviii In Sade 1795-1:165 Dolbourg's beliefs raise the doubt he may be a Huguenot. lxix Worth mentioning are Francogallia (1573) and Vindicia contra tyrannos (1579 ); later in 1611 appeared De la monarchie aristodémocratique by Turquet de Mayerne, who likened the body politic to a body governed by physical laws, and propounded enlightened constitutional ideas. lxx Jansenism challenged traditional Catholicism on the ground on an interpretation of St.Augustine's theology and debated theories of predestination. lxxiAs with any major political movement, Jansenism was made up of different groups debating fine points of doctrine and devoted to different practices, some quite eccentric like the convulsionnaires who -as the name implies- were devoted to extreme devotional and penitential practices; others were devoted to miracles that for a while wouldn't

stop happening around Jansenist holy people. lxxiiIn occasion of Etats Généraux in 1614 a compromise was not out of question; however nobility refused to give up pensions and sinecure in exchange for the abolition of the sale of offices. lxxiiiThe duc de Saint-Simon preached strict endogamy among ducs et pairs to preserve their bloodlines. lxxiv“Loyseau's account of the usurpation of authority by the medieval baronage contributed to the pre-Revolutionary trend to see the nobility as oppressors of the weak. “ Salmon 1994:392. lxxv “Ma place...[says Blamont to Valcour] – Est une des plus médiocres de l'Etat, bien souvent une des plus tristes, et toujours une des moins considerées; songez qu'avec cent sacs de mille francs, mon valet demain peut estre votre égal [says Valcour to Blamont]“ (Sade 1795-1:1475). Valcour's utterances might very well come from a Pairie's manifesto, and it was noted earlier how Valcour is Sade's fictional surrogate/impersonation. lxxviA typical example is Gilles de Rais (XV century). One of the most prominent aristocrats of France and one of of Joan of Arc's lieutenants, he was also a mass murderer. Since he was legibus solutus in his land, his assent had to be secured, in order to proceed with a trial. De Rais was basically duped into giving his assent alleging trivial matters.

Once he had been captured, the whole extent of the accusation was revealed ( sources claim 140 victims of his tortures ) and he was finally executed after due process. lxxvii The concept of entrapment is very present in the novel, and harshly criticized every time. For example in Sade 1795-1:934ss Léonore and Dom Gaspard risk being executed by order of the African Muslim roi de Sennar. This cruel tyrant does everything in his power to overtax his subjects and -much like Sade thinks of his times' justice system- fields agents provocateurs to lure unsuspecting visitors into committing offences to subsequently torture and impale them. lxxviii Le Comte is able to obtain swift revocation of lettres de cachet and he also facilitates the intervention of the French government, so that the King of Spain himself obliges inquisition to refund a part of the colossal wealth in gold ingot that had been confiscated when Sainville had been entrapped in Spain. The rest of the 'divine' (7 millions livres) gift of Zamè to Sainville had been stolen by the clergy unbeknown to the King himself. lxxix Readers should never forget how illustrious Sade's family was. Convolute speeches against magistrates (hence robe ) cannot even be counted. Magistrates are likened to cannibals (Sade 1795-1:605); to criminals busy making the law as they go to serve their evil deeds and indecent passions (Sade 1795-1:605, 676, 1166); to bringers of ill fate ( ibid:735); to thieves (ibid:1064), and so forth. lxxx With a subterfuge (Sade 1795-1:345) Sainville had stolen 100.000 écus his father had deposited in Paris, in order to run away with Léonore. lxxxi Treasure (1986) mentions how proud Richelieu was in his birth. The 1716 mémoire seems to suggest otherwise. lxxxiiValcour kills M. de Sainval in duel; he was the brother of Adelaide, a girl he had seduced and abandoned.

Adelaide had committed suicide, and her brother was thus seeking revenge. lxxxiii in the novel Léonore is outraged when offered jobs such as servant, during her peregrinations. lxxxiv Essay politique sur le commerce lxxxv“la Pologne devient l’objet d’un débat politique spécifique centré sur le problème des institutions de la République. Montesquieu l’avait déjà utilisé dans sa typologie des régimes politiques, Jaucourt lui consacre un article dans l’Encyclopédie inspiré par l’abbé Coyer et largement repris par la suite dans les dictionnaires “ (Belissa n.d,n.p ) lxxxvi“ Au XVIIIe siècle, l’Abbé Coyer défendait une théorie selon laquelle, si le goût du superflu peut causer la ruine du dépensier, il oeuvre également pour le bien-être de la communauté. En effet, la cupidité des nobles et des fortunés et leur soif d’objets toujours plus luxueux sont à l’origine d’une industrie prospère et innovante. “ (Daniel Huber in Crédit Suisse, 2003-2004:9) lxxxvii “ Contrary, however, to the assumption of such current scholarship, the notion of a noblesse commerçante— and the concomitant transformation in political culture that this notion implied—arose more than a half century before the publication of Coyer’s magnum opus, and it did so not in the discourse of the literary and noble elite, but in the writing of commercial jurists who had begun their careers as merchants. This legal discourse was initiated by the monarchy’s issuance in March 1673 of a Commercial Ordinance, which for the first time, sought to establish a single uniform system of commercial justice across France. In the treatises that soon issued explicating the ordinance (and French commercial law more generally), commercial jurists found themselves grappling with a question that was becoming increasingly difficult: How was merchant-court jurisdiction to be defined? It is in this

juridical context that the idea of a noblesse commerçante first arose. And from this juridical perspective, unlike that of Coyer, the ultimate implication of a noblesse commerçante was not so much that in modern commercial society a noble caste born into privilege was illegitimate—though this was clearly implied—but more important, that every modern individual was in some sense a merchant. -...- One important development that undermined the traditional conception of the merchant was the emergence, beginning in the mid- to late-seventeenth century, of a new breed of commercial player, known as the négociant. As commercial markets, which had long been limited to the city and the surrounding countryside, expanded to encompass all of France and beyond, these négociants came to specialize in wholesale, often international trade, and banking. “ (Kessler, n.d, n.p). It is not hard to recognize in these enterprising people the antecedents of robe and of many noble families, like the Mirabeau. lxxxviii In Sade 1795-1:1400ss Léonore criticizes madame de Blamont and expounds her sociological theories concerning poverty, charity, misfortune and luxury denouncing charity as a merely egoistical act and an incentive for the lazy and the criminal; both good and evil deeds are merely considered for the pleasure they bring to the agent, being morally neutral. lxxxix Léonore's peregrinations are disseminated with her taking advantage of and manipulating a series of diverse characters ranging from meek physician Dolcini to brutal cannibal King Ben Maacoro. Blamont is master of the art of controlling his emotions even in the most critical moments.