Often noted for their autobiographical elements, Mirbeau's first three novels are sometimes referred to as his "novels of revenge" because they contained fictional portrayals of persons who had offended Mirbeau and expressions of outrage at the social institutions he believed responsible for the suppression of individual liberty. In Calvary, the narrator Jean-Francois-Marie Mintie relates his experiences as a soldier in the Franco-Prussian War, concluding that the cause of patriotism hardly justifies the horrors of war. When the war ends he returns to Paris to start a literary career, but, after becoming disgusted with the corruption of Parisian society and the infidelities of his mistress, Mintie flees to the countryside to begin his life anew. L 'Abbé Jules concerns the effects of sexual repression on a defrocked Catholic priest who is given responsibility for supervising the education of his nephew, whom he advises to follow his natural instincts. The...