The most current multidisciplinary and multivocal engagement with Sade's enduring influences on modernism and the philosophical need for continued analysis of his work and the questions it raises.

From Lacan to Dalí, through Simone de Beauvoir, Beckett, Horkheimer, Burroughs, Pasolini, Foucault, Deleuze, up to Žižek, the Marquis de Sade's influence and impact on modernism and modern thinking is hard to measure. Understanding Sade, Understanding Modernism presents its readers with a chance to reflect on the importance of this radical oeuvre from different perspectives.

Contributors examine Sadean literature and thought through some of its main texts (including 120 Days of Sodom, History of Juliette, The Crimes of Love, and Philosophy in the Boudoir) in a series of comparative essays that not only examine Sade's influence in French, European, and American thought, but also critique it in the context of some of modern philosophy's most relevant subjects: ecology, nature, universalism, and the links between ethics and aesthetics.

The final section identifies key concepts and notions within Sade's corpus in a series of entries offering context and a discussion of their relevance for current thought.