Though Landolfi's stories [in Cancerqueen and Other Stories] may be considered amusing and entertaining, he is not an easy author to understand. The reader must put forth a genuine creative effort to comprehend the subject matter. The author's analytical ability reveals in limited detail the conflict between the sensual and the reflective mind. Long interested in Russian literature, Landolfi at times portrays an anguished mentality analogous to that of a certain Slavic tradition. In his story "The Mute," for instance, we live in the terrified mind of a child murderer who recalls Dostoyevsky's Stavrogin. In the story "Hands" we learn of the man Federico who is haunted by the idea of having killed a mouse one night in the courtyard.

The author in several tales appears to share the Existentialist's notions concerning the absurdity of the world. In "Night Must Fall" a young poet expresses bitter thoughts about...