The second oddest thing to happen within this quarter is that after I watched Quills, the movie about the Marquis de Sade which I enjoyed tremendously, Monsieur le Marquis de Sade kept appearing to me in various and unexpected places.

I was googling Simone de Beauvoir the other night, and what did I find? I found that she had written a book titled Must We Burn De Sade?. Very well, I thought, and didn’t dwell on it.

Today I came home from the library with six books, one of which is titled Mishima: Vision of the Void, and is written by Marguerite Yourcenar. I opened the book on a random page, and read “I am Donatien-Alphonse-Francois, Marquis de Sade.” I must say that this momentary happening felt extremely strange. What are the odds of my bringing home a book from the library I have never read before but picked because it had an interesting title, and opening this book on a random page, to be greeted by de Sade’s name? Is there any order in this chaos?

A friend of mine believes that when someone occupies your thoughts and you think of them the whole time, you are bound to see them or hear from them or get in touch somehow by cosmic coincidence. He says that the harder you focus on one thing/person, the more likely the universe will respond by bringing them your way.

This is not to say that I have been “occupied” with de Sade. While I am currently reading one of his works, 120 Days of Sodom, I can’t say he’s on my mind. Two other issues occupy my mind entirely and there is no room for any diversions. What makes it all the more bizarre is that before I watched the movie, I didn’t know anything about de Sade, let alone run into his mentions in random books.

This must be a curse!