God’s Progress

at some level tableaux vivants or stage effects that depend on lighting and costume for their passion.

The 1770s in France, like the 1960s in America, were performed, not lived. Even Sade’s private carousing went public. After his first scandal (whipping a prostitute and forcing her to whip him), Sade was placed under close surveillance by Paris police inspector Louis Marais. For more than a decade, reports of Sade’s sexual activity were passed on daily to Versailles and became “the highest source of delectation for the king and Mme de Pompadour.”

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Patrick Glynn

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at some level tableaux vivants or stage effects that depend on lighting and costume for their passion.

The 1770s in France, like the 1960s in America, were performed, not lived. Even Sade’s private carousing went public. After his first scandal (whipping a prostitute and forcing her to whip him), Sade was placed under close surveillance by Paris police inspector Louis Marais. For more than a decade, reports of Sade’s sexual activity were passed on daily to Versailles and became “the highest source of delectation for the king and Mme de Pompadour.”