I find some of [the short stories in Le Coq de bruyère] disturbing, just as I found Michel Tournier's magnificent novel The Erl-King disturbing, and for the same reasons. In The Erl-King, M Tournier's understanding of the spirit of the Teutonic powers of evil underlying the actions and "philosophy" of the Nazis was so complete that it almost seemed legitimate to assume that he felt some obscure complicity with them. Some of the stories in Le Coq de bruyère … are orientated towards the same dark, saturnine forces—and again, with charm and persuasiveness.

"La jeune fille et la mort" is one of the longer stories. Death has always acted as a magnet for Mélanie, ever since she was a "docile, intelligent, hard-working" little schoolgirl. Death, and also sadism and torture, for Mélanie was born bored—bored by everything in life. The way M Tournier...