L’Âne mort et la femme guillotinée

Published in May 1829, Jules Janin’s first novel is not merely a spoof of the frénétique style, nor simply a parody of Le Dernier Jour d’un condamné. It is a highly personal work, lacing humor with despair. By bringing the darker side of Romanticism to the fore, the novel reveals it to be a fundamentally critical enterprise.