Contes d'un rebelle

In one of these short stories, 'Un maître' ['A Master'], written in 1911, he ends by affirming: 'O proletarian, for whom I write, do not mistake this story for a fairy tale: it is true. Luckily for the modern reader, the pedagogical intention does not take away from the simple pleasure of discovering these pithy portraits of dried-up old bigots, irredeemable drunkards, frog-faced moralists, authoritarian brides, alcoholic patriots, repeatedly cuckolded lovers, liberated housemaids, innocently incestuous siblings and a wealth of other characters.