"This spellbinding collection of stories by one of Eastern Europe's most visionary authors vividly depicts the darkest impulses of the human psyche and the irrationality lurking just beneath the surface of a seemingly rational society teetering on the verge of the abyss. Set against the backdrop of a Europe descending into the chaos of World War I, Csâath's stories possess clarity, insight, and at times are remarkable for their shock-value. They are unsettling and gothic, surreal and dreamlike, and each in its own way pierces the veil of normality to reveal a truth to which Csâath himself ultimately succumbed"--Inside front cover.