The conte cruel is, as ''The A to Z of Fantasy Literature'' by

Brian Stableford Brian Michael Stableford (born 25 July 1948) is a British academic, critic and science fiction writer who has published more than 70 novels. His earlier books were published under the name Brian M. Stableford, but more recent ones have dropped ...

states, a "short-story genre that takes its name from an 1883 collection by

Villiers de l'Isle-Adam Jean-Marie-Mathias-Philippe-Auguste, comte de Villiers de l'Isle-Adam (7 November 1838 – 19 August 1889) was a French symbolist writer. His family called him Mathias while his friends called him Villiers; he would also use the name Auguste wh ...

", although previous examples had been provided by such writers as

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wide ...

. Some critics use the label to refer only to non-supernatural horror stories, especially those that have nasty climactic twists, but it is applicable to any story whose conclusion exploits the cruel aspects of the 'irony of fate.' The collection from which the short-story genre of the conte cruel takes its name is ''Contes cruels'' (1883, tr. Sardonic Tales, 1927) by

. Also taking its name from this collection is '' Contes cruels'' ("''Cruel Tales''"), a two-volume set of about 150 tales and short stories by the 19th-century French writer

Octave Mirbeau Octave Mirbeau (16 February 1848 – 16 February 1917) was a French novelist, art critic, travel writer, pamphleteer, journalist and playwright, who achieved celebrity in Europe and great success among the public, whilst still appealing to the ...

, collected and edited by Pierre Michel and Jean-François Nivet and published in two volumes in 1990 by Librairie Séguier. Some noted writers in the conte cruel genre are

Charles Birkin Sir Charles Lloyd Birkin, 5th Baronet (24 September 1907 – 1985) was an English writer of horror short stories and the editor of the ''Creeps Library'' of anthologies. Typically working under the pseudonym Charles Lloyd, Birkin's tales tended ...

, Maurice Level,

Patricia Highsmith Patricia Highsmith (January 19, 1921 – February 4, 1995) was an American novelist and short story writer widely known for her psychological thrillers, including her series of five novels featuring the character Tom Ripley. She wrote 22 nov ...

François Riviere,
"Patricia Highsmith a rejoint les eaux profondes"
''

Libération ''Libération'' (), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968. Initially positioned on the far-left of France ...

'', 6 February 1995. Retrieved 13 January 2018. and

Roald Dahl Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British novelist, short-story writer, poet, screenwriter, and wartime fighter ace of Norwegian descent. His books have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide. Dahl has b ...

, the latter of whom originated '' Tales of the Unexpected''. H. P. Lovecraft observed of Level's fiction in his essay ''Supernatural Horror in Literature'' (1927): "This type, however, is less a part of the weird tradition than a class peculiar to itself—the so-called conte cruel, in which the wrenching of the emotions is accomplished through dramatic tantalizations, frustrations, and gruesome physical horrors". Brian M. Stableford has observed that, by the 1980s, the conte cruel was the standard narrative form of

soft science fiction Soft science fiction, or soft SF, is a category of science fiction with two different definitions, defined in contrast to hard science fiction. It can refer to science fiction that explores the Hard and soft science, "soft" sciences (e.g. psycho ...

, in particular the works of Thomas M. Disch and

John Sladek John Thomas Sladek (December 15, 1937 – March 10, 2000) was an American science fiction author, known for his satirical and surreal novels. Life and work Born in Waverly, Iowa, in 1937, Sladek was in England in the 1960s for the New Wave ...

References

{{Reflist Fiction forms Literature Short story types

See also

References