Table Of ContentR
A
Much has been written on Beckett and Sade, yet nothing B
A
systematic has been produced. This Element is systematic by T
É
adopting a chronological order, which is necessary given the
complexity of Beckett’s varying assessments of Sade. Beckett
mentioned Sade early in his career, with Proust as a first guide.
His other sources were Guillaume Apollinaire, and Mario Praz’s Beckett
book, La carne, la morte e il diavolo nella letteratura romantica
(1930), from which he took notes about sadism for his Dream
Notebook. Dante’s meditation on the absurdity of justice
provides closure, facing Beckett’s wonder at the pervasive
presence of sadism in humans.
B Beckett and
e
c
k
e
t
t
a
n
d Sade
S
a
d
e
About the Series Series Editors
This series presents cutting-edge research Dirk Van Hulle
by distinguished and emerging scholars, University of
providing space for the most relevant Oxford Jean-Michel Rabaté
debates informing Beckett studies as well Mark Nixon
as neglected aspects of his work. In times University of
of technological development, religious Reading
radicalism, unprecedented migration,
gender fluidity, environmental and social
crisis, Beckett’s works find increased
resonance. Cambridge Elements in
Beckett Studies is a key resource for
readers interested in the current state of
the field.
Cover image: Keystone Press / Alamy Stock Photo
ElementsinBeckettStudies
editedby
DirkVanHulle
UniversityofOxford
MarkNixon
UniversityofReading
BECKETT AND SADE
Jean-Michel Rabaté
University of Pennsylvania
UniversityPrintingHouse,CambridgeCB28BS,UnitedKingdom
OneLibertyPlaza,20thFloor,NewYork,NY10006,USA
477WilliamstownRoad,PortMelbourne,VIC3207,Australia
314–321,3rdFloor,Plot3,SplendorForum,JasolaDistrictCentre,
NewDelhi–110025,India
79AnsonRoad,#06–04/06,Singapore079906
CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge.
ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof
education,learning,andresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence.
www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781108726832
DOI:10.1017/9781108771085
©Jean-MichelRabaté2020
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2020
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
ISBN978-1-108-72683-2Paperback
ISSN2632–0746(online)
ISSN2632–0738(print)
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof
URLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication
anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain,
accurateorappropriate.
Beckett and Sade
ElementsinBeckettStudies
DOI:10.1017/9781108771085
Firstpublishedonline:October2020
Jean-MichelRabaté
UniversityofPennsylvania
Authorforcorrespondence:Jean-MichelRabaté,[email protected]
Abstract:MuchhasbeenwrittenonBeckettandSade,yetnothing
systematichasbeenproduced.ThisElementissystematicbyadopting
achronologicalorder,whichisnecessarygiventhecomplexityof
Beckett’svaryingassessmentsofSade.BeckettmentionedSadeearlyin
hiscareer,withProustasafirstguide.HisothersourceswereGuillaume
Apollinaire,andMarioPraz’sbook,Lacarne,lamorteeildiavolonella
letteraturaromantica(1930),fromwhichhetooknotesaboutsadism
forhisDreamNotebook.Dante’smeditationontheabsurdityofjustice
providesclosure,facingBeckett’swonderatthepervasivepresenceof
sadisminhumans.
Keywords:sadism,torture,theRevolution,ethics,politics
©Jean-MichelRabaté2020
ISBNs:9781108726832(PB),9781108771085(OC)
ISSNs:2632-0746(online),2632-0738(print)
Contents
Introduction:TheSadeBoom 1
1 TheGuides:Apollinaire,ProustandPraz 10
2 FromMurphytoWatt:KnottingPathologyandTheology 22
3 Sade’sUnreason 32
4 CommentSade:TheSadeanPedagogyofLove
inHowItIs 41
5 Sade’sDarkRevolution 50
6 EternallyReversibleCatastrophes 58
Conclusion:Play,PleasureandJouissance 65
WorksCited 68
BeckettandSade 1
Introduction:TheSadeBoom
BeckettkeptakeeninterestintheworksandpersonoftheMarquisdeSadeall
his life. Quite late, he became conscious that he had participated in a ‘Sade
boom’, dating from the inception of French Surrealism, from Guillaume
Apollinaire, André Breton and Georges Bataille to the explosion of Sadean
scholarshipinthe1950s.EvenifBeckettrealizedthathehadbeencaughtupin
a Sade cult, he never abjured his faith in the importance of the outcast and
scandalouswriter,andkeptrereadingSade(ashedidDante)acrosstheyears.1
IwillbeginbysurveyingBeckett’sletterstofindthetracesofhisreadingsand
pointouthowanumberofhypothesesconcerningthe‘divineMarquis’evolved
overtime.BeckettrevisitedSadeseveraltimes,andheprogressivelyreshaped
andrefinedhisinterpretationofwhatSademeantforhimacrossfivedecades.
Followingtheevolutionoftheseepistolarymarkersthatculminatedinamore
politicalreading,IwilldistinguishfourmomentsinBeckett’sapproach.
BeckettknewthedetailsofSade’sexceptionallife,alifethatwasnotahappy
one but was certainly a long one, for his career spanned the Old Regime, the
French Revolution and almost all of the First Empire. Sade was jailed for
debaucheryfrom1777to1790,thenimprisonedforashorttimeattheheight
oftheTerrorin1793–4,whichallowedhimtowitnessthemassslaughter;he
was freed just before the date set for his execution, thanks to Robespierre’s
downfall;hewasjailedagainforhispornographicwritingsundertheConsulate
andtheEmpireunderdirectordersfromapuritanicalNapoleon,between1801
and 1814. He died in the Charenton asylum, where he was kept under the
pretence that he was insane. The authorities knew very well that he was
asubversivewriterbutconsideredhimapornographereventhoughhiswritings
weremoreemeticthantitillatingorerotic.AltogetherSadespenttwenty-seven
yearsinprison,quitearecordforanoblemanfromanancientanddistinguished
family who had never killed anyone. Sade was aware that the imposition of
forceonhispassionshadnotrestrainedthem butonthecontrary exacerbated
their violence. Indeed, Sade’s scandalous reiterations of perverse fantasies go
beyond the limits of what is considered as sayable. Feeling sympathy for this
accused martyr who had produced a radical formofliterature, Beckett recog-
nizedtheimportanceofthedirelessonsonlove,sexualityandpowercontained
inSade’ssulphurousworks.
ThefirstmentionofSadecomesfroma1934letterrevealingBeckett’ssense
that the Marquis de Sade’s influence had permeated the cultural world of the
Dublin intelligentsia, a world in which eccentrics and perverts were hard to
1 SeeEricMarty’scriticalandperceptivebook,PourquoileXXesièclea-t-ilprisSadeausérieux?
(2011).ForacomprehensiveassessmentofBeckett’sinterestinSade’sworks,seePilling(2014).
2 ElementsinBeckettStudies
distinguish.ThissatiricalmomentcorrespondstotheunpublishednovelDream
of Fair to Middling Women, Beckett’s farewell to his student years in Dublin
andParis.Itbringsustothemomentofintenseruminationprecedingthewriting
of Murphy, when he was elaborating an aesthetic of non-anthropomorphic
values.ThiscomestotheforeinalettertoMacGreevyfromSeptember1934;
Beckett praises Cézanne for his paintings of Montagne Sainte Victoire,
a landscape rendered ‘incommensurable with all human expressions whatso-
ever’(2009,222),adding:
Could there be any more ludicrous rationalisation of the itch to animise
thantheétatd’âmeballs,banquets&parties.Or–afterXerxesbeatingthe
sea,theLexicographerkickingthestone&thePenmanunderthebedduring
thethunder–anyirritationmoremièvrethanthatofSadeattheimpossibilité
d’outragerlanature.A.E.’sGullywouldhavethrilledhim.(Beckett,2009,
223)
Here,Sade’s‘irritation’ispresentedasmièvre,whichsuggestssomethingsoft
andeffeminate,hardlywhatonewouldexpectfromtheMarquis!In1934,Sade
canbecomparedwiththoseIrishartistswhostillappealtoananthropomorph-
ized nature, whereas Cézanne’s strength was that he presented it as inhuman.
ThisallusiontoSadefollowsanironicalevocationofJamesJoyce,whoseterror
of thunderstorms was legendary. Beckett had found in Mario Praz Sade’s
statement that ‘L’impossibilité d’outrager la nature est, selon moi, le plus
grandsupplicedel’homme[TheimpossibilityofoutragingNatureis,according
to me, man’s greatest torment]’ (Sade, 1967b, 281; Praz, 1948, 109).2 This
quoteis takenout ofits context; we find it inLa Nouvelle Justine, spoken by
Jérome,oneoftheLibertines,theoldestofagroupofferociousmonks.Jérome
likesbeingwhippedorsodomizedwhenengaginginhismainactivity,whichis
torturingtodeathlittlegirlsandboys.JéromeisoneamongmanySadeananti-
heroeswhoallexpressademiurgicurgetocommitcrimessoextravagantthat
theywillhavenoequivalentintheannalsofhumandebauchery;theyareready
to destroy the whole human race, if not the world. However, here Beckett
betrays a second-hand knowledge, for he lifted the sentence from Praz’s The
RomanticAgony.
Atthetime,Prazwasdevelopingagroundbreakingconceptofdecadencethat
tookSadeasthehiddensourcebothofadarkerneo-GothicRomanticismandof
an enervated and affected late Symbolism (Praz, 1948, 107).3 Praz finished
writing his book in 1930, just when Maurice Heine was publishing the first
2 LaNouvelleJustineisanexpandedversion,publishedin1797,ofJustine,oulesmalheursdela
vertufrom1791.Unlessotherwisenoted,alltranslationsaretheauthor’sown.
3 PrazattributesthissentencetoSadeandnottothecharacterwhoutteredit,Jérome.
BeckettandSade 3
scholarlyeditionofoneofSade’sworks,Justine.BeckettreadPraz’sbookin
Italian,ashisnotesintheDreamNotebookreveal(Beckett,1999,45).4Hewas
attractedtoitschapteronSadenotonlybecauseitquotesSadeinFrenchand
quiteextensively,butalsobecausePrazestablishesadirectlinkbetweenSade
andProust,whichgaveusefultipstoBeckettatthetimewhenhewaswriting
his monograph Proust (1970; published 1931). Like Praz, Beckett had been
impressedbythenumerouspassagesdevotedto‘sadism’inProust’sRecherche,
and his book highlighted the startling absence of moral condemnation of any
formof‘perversion’.
Intheletter,thetoneismocking,almostsarcastic.Sade’sdestructivefuryis
reducedtoaninsanerageatnature,afrustratedwishtobeonewithelemental
destructivity.ThislookedimmaturetoBeckettin1934,preciselywhenhewas
takingsomedistancebothfromtheDublinaesthetesandfromhismainartistic
mentor,Joyce.TheSadeandriveremindshimofthepleasuretakenbyLeonardo
da Vinci in disfazione, a term mentioned in his Proust (Beckett, 1970, 31).
Disfazioneor‘decreation’impliestheartist’senjoymentofdestruction,whether
itbeinNatureorinman-madecatastrophes.Thistendencyappeared,asBeckett
found out later, in the works of André Masson and Georges Bataille. Indeed,
after World War II, he would mock Bataille’s proclivity for ‘all-purpose
disaster’.5
In the 1934 letter, the allusion to Sade segues into an ironical remark on
a kitschy painting by George Russell, a.k.a. AE, whose Seascape: The Gully
was part of the Hugh Lane bequest in the Dublin museum. If the adjective
mièvre(simpering)hardlyqualifieswhendealingwithSade’smurderousfren-
ziesinJustine,itismorefittingfacingAE’sdaub,inwhichtwowomenseated
onarockenjoythewildsurgeofthesurf.Whilethesatiricaltonereappearsin
otherevocationsofSadeinDream,inthepassagestowhichIwillreturn,the
remarkbetraysBeckett’slackoffamiliaritywithSade’sworks.
Inasecondperiod,BeckettbeganconsideringSade’stextsmorecloselyand
with the idea of a serious task ahead, which included translation but also
scholarlyglosses.Thetaskwasforcedonhimwhenhewasgiventheofferby
JackKahanetotranslateSade’smostshockingbook,The120DaysofSodom.
Beckett was tempted for many reasons, and in February 1938, he pondered
whethertotranslateit,askingGeorgeReaveyforadvice:
4 Beckett quotes ‘Nastàja Filippovna’, a character in Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot, using Praz’s
spelling, whereas the English version was ‘Nastasia’. This proves that Beckett read Praz in
Italian,inthefirstedition,justpublishedthen.
5 Beckettusestheamusingexpression‘désastreàtoutfaire’inanundatedletterof1950toGeorges
Duthuit(2011,186).IhavediscussedtheirgrowingdisagreementinThink,Pig!(Rabaté,2016,
76–91).
4 ElementsinBeckettStudies
Iwishverymuchyouwereheretoadvisemeabouttranslation(ofSade’s120
Days for Jack Kahane). I should like very much to do it, & the terms are
moderately satisfactory, but don’t know what effect it wd. have on my lit.
situationinEnglandorhowitmightprejudicefuturepublicationsofmyown
there. The surface is of an unheard of obscenity & not 1 in 100 will find
literatureinthepornography,orbeneaththepornography,letaloneoneofthe
capitalworksofthe18thcentury,whichitisforme.(Beckett,2009,604)
On11February1938,shortlyafterastayinahospitalafterhehadbeenstabbed
near the heart, he still hesitated, even if the proposition appealed to him. He
mentionshislong-standinginterestinSade:‘ThoughIaminterestedinSade&
havebeenforalongtime,andwantthemoneybadly,Iwouldreallyrathernot’
(605,n4).HeproceededtoformulatehismostoriginalstatementaboutSadein
anotherletter:
[JackKahane]agreedtothefollowingconditions:1.ThatIshallwritethe
preface.2.ThatIshouldbepaid150frper1000wordsirrespectiveofrateof
£.(...)Ihaveread1st&3rdvols.ofFrenchedition.Theobscenityofsurface
isindescribable.Nothingcouldbelesspornographical.Itfillsmewithakind
of metaphysical ecstasy. The composition is extraordinary, as rigorous as
Dante’s. If the dispassionate statement of 600 ‘passions’ is Puritan and
acompleteabsenceofsatirejuvenalesque,thenitis,asyousay,puritanical
& juvenalesque. You would loathe it whether or no. (21 February 1938;
Beckett,2009,607)
BeckettalludestotheplanofSade’sdarkestandmosthauntingnovel,The120
DaysofSodom,afrenziedbookwritteninthirty-sevendaysin1785whilehe
wasimprisonedintheBastille.Sadewroteitonpagesgluedtogetherinahuge
reelandinaminutescript.Despitetheseprecautions,Sadewasforcedtoleave
hiscell,andlostthemanuscript;helamenteditsdisappearanceallhislife.The
manuscriptwastoresurfaceonlyin1904,whenitwaspublishedbyaGerman
scholar.AfterhavingbeentheobjectofferociouslegalbattlesbetweenFrench
and Swiss institutions, it is now kept in Paris, and has been shown several
times.6 It was called a bande by Sade, with a pun on bander (to have an
erection),whichmayhavesuggestedtheFrenchtitleofKrapp’sLastTape,La
dernièrebande.
InSade’sGothicdystopia,fourrichlibertinesdecidetospendfourmonthsin
a secluded castle in the Black Forest in order to act out their most violent
fantasies. The Castle ofSilling resembles Sade’scastle of La Coste, to which
IwillreturninthecontextofBeckett’sstayinnearbyRoussillonduringthewar.
TheLibertinestakewiththem fouroldbawdswhoactasnarrators forscenes
6 ItwasoneoftheattractionsondisplayattheshowL’EnferdelaBibliothèque:Erosausecret,
BibliothèquenationaledeFrance,siteFrançois-Mitterrand,4December2007to31March2008.
