No such luck. For almost two centuries, scholars, critics and fellow artists have been rooting about in Sade s grave in an effort to form a conclusive portrait of the man.
Opinions are wildly divergent.
A few even praise Justine as a work to rival the satire of Jonathan Swift. The Surrealists adopted Sade as their patron Saint, citing him as the freest spirit who ever lived . They re loath to see Sade resurrected at all. His writing is attacked as monotonous, his philosophy sophomoric and his impact on the world of letters merely toxic. Shattuck even calls Sade a vicious evangelist , and suggests that he is culpable for inciting the Moors murders of 1965 and the serial killings of Ted Bundy.