The work of the French writer J. Barbey d'Aurevilly (1808–1889) is little known to the Russian reader. The works included in this collection were written in the 60-80s of the 19th century and reflect the different facets of the author’s talent, the diversity of his connections with the traditions of French literature. The book includes the historical novel “Chevalier Detouches” - about events in Normandy at the end of the 18th century ( movement of the Chouans), a cycle of short stories “The Devil's Tales” (their source was those moments of life in which its “devilish principles” - evil, ugly, terrible) were especially clearly manifested, as well as the tragic story “The Nameless Story”, the penultimate work of Barbet d' Aurevilly.

Replaced “d’Orvilly” (as in the original edition) with “d’Aurevilly” everywhere. This is more correct from the point of view of the established transcription of French names (d'Aurevilly), which is based more on spelling than on actual pronunciation, and is confirmed by the authority of M. Voloshin, who clearly knew both Russian and French better than modern translators. Moreover, this transcription is more familiar to the Russian reader (collection “Holy Night”, Moscow, Political Literature Publishing House, 1991; “Literary Encyclopedia”, etc.). Amfortas