The Confession of a Madman

The first English translation of this haunting 1890 novel from romanticist Trézenik (1855–1902) offers an immersive glimpse into a twisted psyche. The story’s unnamed narrator claims that he has been losing his grip on reality for over two years and decides to document his descent in a daily journal in order to “conserve [his] superiority over the madmen of Saine-Anne,” a criminal asylum in France. His subsequent entries range from small anecdotes—like being called “the little corpse” in childhood due to prolonged illness, and remembering the nightmares that resulted from sneaking a look at a priest’s treatise on demonic possession—to accounts of recurrent hallucinations that challenge the reader to wonder what is true and what is not. The strength of the novella is in its gorgeous, striking imagery, translated with delicacy by Stableford. The result is a distinctive, beguiling exploration of delusion and derangement—a must-read for fans and scholars of romanticism and decadence. (Jan.)