Pornography: Men Possessing Women, by: Andrea ... - Feminish

sporadically). O n Sade’s release, Ren6e-Pelagie, whom Sade hadsubjected to extraordinary scorn and abuse during his imprisonment,left him and obtained a legal separation. Sade’s bitternesstoward her was unrelenting. Apparently he felt that he had givenher the best years of his life, which were less than perfect onlybecause he had been maliciously persecuted. He especially blamedRenee-Pelagie for the loss of manuscripts that had been taken ordestroyed during the siege of the Bastille. She had failed to rescuethem, as he had demanded, and may have burned some herself. Inthe ensuing years, he set about re-creating the lost work. After hisrelease, Sade also met his daughter as an adult for the first time. Hehated her on sight. Early in 1791, Sade began living with Marie-Constance Renelle, to whom Justine is dedicated and with whom hehad what his biographers consider a sincere, loving, devotedrelationship. Sade was no longer a young rake. In prison he hadbecome very fat, and the French Revolution had deprived him ofhis power as an aristocrat. Necessity, that fabled parent ofinvention, gave birth in a few short months to Citizen Sade.For nearly four years, Sade walked a political tightrope. Heplayed the role of one who had been abused by the old regime, whohad no loyalties to the old nobility and was entirely committed tothe new society. He made politically correct speeches, renamedstreets to reflect the ideology of the revolution, and worked to keephis own property from the legitimate claims of the revolution and ofRenee-Pelagie. According to his biographers, Sade’s essentialhumanism was demonstrated during the Terror when he was on acommittee that passed judgment on the Montreuils: he could havedenounced them and had them killed, but he did not. It is morelikely that Sade, a consummate survivor, had understood that,during the Terror, guilt by past association could endanger his ownlife. Condemnation of the Montreuils could eventually have led tohis own death for his having consorted with them.Revolutionary leader Jean-Paul Marat discovered the nature ofthe crimes for which Sade had been imprisoned under the oldregime. He denounced Sade but by mistake someone with a similarname was executed. Marat, although he became aware of his