The Dead Donkey

and

The Guillotined Woman

Jules Janin

Jules Janin (1804-1874) was one of the major exponents of the Frénétique School of Literature, which reveled in excesses, dark themes, and ghoulish situations, and The Dead Donkey and the Guillotined Woman, originally published in 1829, and long out of print in English, is certainly the most frénétique of his novels-and, in fact, one of the greatest landmarks left behind by that school as a whole.

A cruel story of great artistry, at once sly, desperate, and immensely tragic, The Dead Donkey and the Guillotined Woman, though filled with quips and dark humor, is a blood-curdling exercise in literary flamboyance that is no less devastating today than when it was first released.

About the Author
Jules Janin (1804-1874) began a lifelong career in journalism as soon as he left school, soon working alongside Charles Nodier at the Journal des Débats. He became Nodier’s closest friend during the last two decades of the latter’s life. He contributed to the first incarnation of L’Artiste and worked for Émile ­Girardin for a while as an editor, but remained something of a literary butterfly, never settling long in one place and aborting many of his projects. His initial reputation was made by his novel L’Âne mort et la femme guillotiné (1829), an extended conte cruel, the critical success of which he never repeated. Much of his early fiction was fantastic, and he titled his first collection Contes ­fantasiques (1832) although, like his other collections, it mingled tales of various kinds.

Paperback, 224 pages
Release date: January 19, 2022
ISBN-13: 978-1-64525-095-1
Price: US$17.50

Hardcover, 226 pages. Limited edition of 100 copies
Release date: January 19, 2022
Price: US$33.00