Mirbeau's Hedgehog

Starting from a close textual reading of one of the stories embedded in Mirbeau's Les 21 Jours d'un neurasthénique (1901), this article examines the author's treatment of animals and the natural world, in the context of fin-de-siècle comic writing, of naturalism in both the literary and scientific senses, and of the shift from mimetic realism to absurdist allegory that characterizes his work. The pessimistic and sadistic elements of his vision are both communicated and counteracted by the caricatural imaginative verve displayed in such short prose pieces. (CDL)