Sade, l'inconnu? Nouvelles approaches critiques de Oxford University

International conference organised by Ertegun Scholar Manuel Muhlbacher and his college advisor Nicholas Cronk. Imprisoned during his lifetime and sanctified in the twentieth century, the Marquis de Sade has attracted considerable critical interest during the last decades. He was a favourite of literary theory in the sixties and seventies, while more recent scholarship has begun to explore how Sade subversively rewrites major texts of the French Enlightenment. As the constant interest in Sade shows, his work continues to puzzle and fascinate his readers. The conference Sade, l'inconnu? Nouvelles approches critiques brought together acknowledged specialists as well as young researchers to discuss emerging topics in Sade studies. Beginning with a keynote lecture by Michel Delon, the editor of Sade's works in the Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, the conference engaged with neglected aspects of Sadean writing and highlighted perspectives for future research. The papers covered such topics as intertextuality in Sade, the Marquis' universally neglected 'decent' texts and implied readership in Sade. For the 200th anniversary of Sade’s death in 2014, the papers will be published as an issue on Sade in Romance Studies