"An entire social order is rendered clear through these twenty-odd outrages, admirable in the strength of their offensiveness." -- Alfred Jarry "Octave Mirbeau is the greatest contemporary French writer, and the one who best represents the eternal brilliance of France." -- Lev Tolstoy "A man of justice who has given his heart to the wretched and miserable of this earth." -- Emile Zola

Octave Mirbeau (1848--1917) was one of the leading lights of the "Decadent" movement in French literature, as well as one of its most savage parodists; producing works in virtually every genre (reportage, art and literary criticism, travel writing, fiction, and drama), he exploded the boundaries of the nineteenth-century novel, pointing the way to everything from surrealism to gonzo journalism.