- Le Calvaire (Empire of the Senses)

Mirbeau is a name often associated with decadence, particularity for his 1899 work, The Torture Garden. This is his first novel published thirteen years prior, and decadent overtones are evident here, no doubt. Aristocrats driven mad by spiritual turmoil, the sufferings of love, and the torments of

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the artist. In their execution though, these motifs come across as rather juvenile. The protagonist pines over an overbearing and annoying woman who exploits him and prostitutes herself to anyone with a dime, yet his love for her is undying, as we are told by his endless wails and whines. He also possesses a stuffy, moralistic attitude, condemning anything he finds unchaste. Even de Gourmont's interpretations of Catholic guilt have a sort of delightful wickedness to them.

As a volume in the decadent cannon, this one seems the most artificial of any that I have read so far. The writing is decent enough, with a few remarkable passages sprinkled throughout, but the story and its bothersome characters seem forced. Maybe his later work finds its mark, and this can be excused as a youthful attempt that is well-intentioned, though flawed.

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