Praised by Borges, the Unkind Tales of Leon Bloy were produced in a phase of literary evolution that was exploratory and experimental, and hence intrinsically exciting. Lingering on the frontiers of Decadence, Naturalism, and Symbolism, these stories of the damned and the foolish, of terrible fates and ludicrous situations, helped map out the terrain of the conte cruel and are, probably, the author’s most noteworthy work.

In this, an authoritative translation of the volume originally published as Histories desobligeantes, Brian Stableford, in both his insightful introduction and his superb rendering of the tales, shines a much-needed light on Bloy’s savage genius.