Monada

by Gabriel Mourey, Shawn M. Garrett (Translation), Brendan Connell (Introduction)

Monada, by French man of letters Gabriel Mourey (1865-1943), is one of the great short story collections of the Decadent Movement. First published in 1894, and here presented for the first time in English, in an excellent translation by Shawn Garrett, the sixteen stories it contains range widely in theme, but are almost all marked by a melancholy mood-of things lost, of things missed. From symbolist fables to bizarre vignettes, from contes cruels to aesthetic reveries, Monada presents the visions of an exceedingly rare talent whose fictional work, until now, has been denied the Anglophone reader. The volume, long and undeservedly forgotten, is certainly worthy of a well-placed position in the Decadent canon.

132 pages, Paperback

Published March 9, 2021

Reviews

[Yugotrash · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vignettes, brief scenes, often overflowing with rich and syrupy musings and images, but suffering all too often from their own briefness - an explosion of emotion feels too hollow and most likewise explosive endings too forced when confined to about 3-5 pages per story.