The School of Sade traces the legacy of D.A.F. Marquis de Sade in Dutch and Flemish literature in the 1960s. The project explores both the reception of Sade as well as the extent to which representations of literary sadism convey distinct value-systems concerning sex and power dynamics. The analysis generates insight into how Dutch and Flemish authors inscribed themselves in a Sadean tradition and, more specifically, to what extent the employment of literary sadism challenges or reinforces societal and cultural norms. By examining a corpus of both canonical and lesser-known authors who have drawn upon Sade or sadism in essays, narrative fiction and translations, the project establishes literary sadism as the means par excellence through which narrative agents (authors, characters, narrators and readers) are invited to negotiate values. Drawing on methodological approaches from the fields of reception theory, ethical narratology and rhetorical narratology, the project explores the interplay between freedom and constraint which is inherent to sadism, in order to shed new light on an era that has widely been applauded as the era of sexual liberation.