Appropriation of Sadeian Violence in Angela Carter's The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman

Abstract

The present thesis focuses on how Angela Carter (1940 – 1992) recaptured the ideas and principles of the Marquis de Sade (1740 – 1814) so as to assert her feminist ideas through the exploitation of pornography and sexual violence in The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman (1972). After an overview of Carter’s literary life, it will trace the author’s views on Sade and what she called “moral pornography” as well as the relationship the latter can have with feminism, on the one hand by taking a close look at the highly controversial essay The Sadeian Woman (1978) and on the other hand by dealing with the explosive debate on the pornography issue that took place within the feminist movement during the 1980s. It will then offer an analysis of Carter’s novel, approaching a variety of topics ranging from the inclusion of Sadeian characters within the plot to the elaboration of powerful Carterian heroines by way of distinctive features directly borrowed from pornography – such as dehumanisation, the stereotypical representation of femininity and gender relations, and the banalisation of sexual violence against women, all of it being subjected to criticism.