Маркиз де Сад. Великий распутник, скандальный романист или мечтатель-вольнодум

Is the preaching of complete freedom – without the “brakes” of religious and ethical rules developed over thousands of years – immoral? It may seem to someone now that such restrictions violate “human rights.” But exactly this is what Donatien... de Sade called for with his life and books two centuries ago – to what today, alas, has turned into stereotypes of mass culture, which we no longer even notice, although the name of this man gave rise to the term “sadism,” denoting unacceptable unmotivated cruelty. So what, in fact, did the infamous marquis dedicate his life to, paying for his passions with a spectacular series of arrests and movements from one prison to another? Maybe he merely absolutized some mundane moments of love games (read “Kamasutra”)? Or do we still not know some secrets of this man?