Angela Olive Carter, The Sadeian Woman

Amy Suzanne Crawford (Anglia Ruskin University)

Ed. by Caroline Webb, University of Newcastle
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Gina Lyle (University of York), Graham MacPhee (University of Manchester), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Domains

Women's Studies

Dates

First circulation or publication 1979

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Non-Fiction
- Commentary / Criticism (literary)

Resources

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Recommended Reading

In her work, originally published in New York as

The Sadeian Woman and the Ideology of Pornography

(1978) and shortly after in London under the title

The Sadeian Woman: An Exercise in Cultural History

(1979), Angela Carter claims that the pornographic literature of the Marquis de Sade (1740–1814) can be used by twentieth-century feminists because within it the “nature” of women is exposed as culturally determined. Carter’s critical enquiry follows three of Sade’s texts:

Justine, or The Misfortunes of Virtue

(1791),

Juliette, or The Prosperities of Vice

(1797), and

Philosophy in the Boudoir

(1795). By addressing Sade’s female characters Justine, Juliette, and Eugénie, Carter critiques the glorification of female suffering, dethrones the “mythic” mother, and condemns…

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1983 words

Citation: Crawford, Amy Suzanne. "The Sadeian Woman". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 05 July 2015 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=7637, accessed 27 November 2024.]

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