The Demon of the Absurd

There is no other reality than things invented by an inimitable imagination. Everything else is foolishness or error. . . . If Rachilde is the only one to be frightened by mirrors, to contemplate in the glory of the sunset or the hermetic castle where she will never enter, to experience the pangs of death for a pulled tooth, it is because she sees further than we. The master of the absurd has entered our bodies, according to Jesus' permission, and our sight has become obscured. If Rachilde's tales seem absurd to the demon named "Legion," we can be sure that they contain an invaluable part of the truth. Thus wrote Marcel Schwob in his introduction to Rachilde's classic collection of Decadent stories, The Demon of the Absurd, first published in 1894 and here presented for the first time in English, in a translation by Shawn Garrett. These tales and pieces de theatre, uniting tragedy and comedy, horror and deep mystery, in their sum total, represent a major work by the Queen of Decadence.