The Misanthrope’s Corner

THE movie Quills has come and gone, but this sympathetic portrait of the Marquis de Sade will turn uponTVina year or so. It will be “edited for content,” of course, but cutting the worst of the sex and violence will not diminish its disastrous overall message, to wit: Sade was a misunderstood genius who was persecuted by a hypocritical establishment.

This is a good time to review a murder case in which the writings of Sade played a precipitate role.