VOLTAIRE AND THE GALAS CASE (224 pp.)Edna NixonVanguard ($5.95).
In most countries, men of letters have had small success in righting the wrongs of an unjust trial. But France boasts two famous instances in which a literary man with the national destiny on the tip of his tongue has appeared to sear the public conscience. Most celebrated is Emile Zola's "J'accuse," which helped reverse the verdict in l'affaire Dreyfus. Less well known but historically probably more significant was Voltaire's angry intervention in l'affaire Calas.
The facts of the case were grotesque. Marc-Antoine Calas. 29, hanged himself in Toulouse on the night of...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
