Sensationalist or misunderstood genius?

I know plenty of us have the experience of living in circumstances where we're singled out, demonised, reviled, and underappreciated simply due to some singular factor or, sometimes, none at all – de Sade lived a controversial life and it's sometimes difficult to discern what is said of him is true and what is simply overblown lie.

Do you find his works stimulating or erotic at all? Certainly they are significant in the history of erotic literature, but definitely not in the same way something like Lady Chatterley's Lover is; much of de Sade's writings reflected a tremendously cynical perspective, and works like The 120 Days of Sodom were fairly brutal in the criticisms that can be derived from such a narrative.

What are your thoughts on this controversial man and his controversial creations?