Cain's luckiest fine. The old man of the house -- The religion of Monsieur Pleur -- The parlor of tarantulas -- Draft for a funeral oration -- The prisoners of Longjumeau -- A lousy idea -- Two ghosts -- A dentist's terrible punishment -- The awakening of Alain Chartier -- The stroker of compassion -- Monsieur's past -- Whatever you want! -- Well-done -- The end of Don Juan -- A martyr -- Suspicion -- The telephone of Calypso -- A recruit -- Botched sacrilege -- It's gonna blow! -- The silver lining -- A well-fed man -- The lucky bean -- Digestive aids -- The reading room -- Nobody's perfect -- Let's be reasonable! -- Jocasta on the streets -- Cain's luckiest fine.
Summary:
Thirty tales of theft, onanism, incest, murder and a host of other forms of perversion and cruelty from the "ungrateful beggar" and "pilgrim of the absolute," Léon Bloy. "Disagreeable Tales," first published in French in 1894, collects Bloy's narrative sermons from the depths: a cauldron of frightful anecdotes and inspired misanthropy that represents a high point of the French Decadent movement and the most emblematic entry into the library of the "Cruel Tale" christened by Villiers de l'Isle-Adam. Whether depicting parents and offspring being sacrificed for selfish gains, or imbeciles sacrificing their own individuality on a literary whim, these tales all draw sustenance from an underlying belief: the root of religion is crime against man, nature and God, and that in this hell on earth, even the worst among us has a soul.
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