Disagreeable Tales

Disagreeable Tales by Leon Bloy, translated by Erik Butler, 177 pages

Disagreeable Tales consists of thirty dark vignettes by the "ungrateful beggar" Leon Bloy, author of The Woman Who Was Poor.  With each story being only a few pages long, there is very little plot, only a peek into an individual well of sin, exposing shameful vices, base depravity, and cruel injustice, but most of all Bloy's favorite target, respectable hypocrisy. 

At the heart of the collection is the tale of a priest who relates the horrible crime of an anonymous penitent, a man who while walking in the country out of sheer maliciousness and desire to destroy burned down a random cottage, killing the old woman who lived there.  Upon hearing the story several men begin sobbing - each identifying himself as the penitent.  Bloy's work, at its best, has the same effect - an accusatory mirror held up to our souls.