Who is Marquis de Sade from The 120 Days of Sodom and Other Writings and what is their importance? 120_Days_of_Sodom English & Literature Marquis de Sade | The 120 Days of Sodom and Other Writings

This is the author of most of the essays and stories in the collection, and the subject of the two critical essays that open the book.

Sade is a member of an aristocratic family and presumably enjoys a privileged and educated upbringing. As a young man, he is arrested for mistreating prostitutes and draws the attention of the police. He is later imprisoned for a similar offense and held indefinitely in the Bastille, a fortress prison in Paris. It is while in prison he composes "The 120 Days of Sodom."