The Duel. Le Duel

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Evil in the novella "The Duel" arises from utterly irrational motives and, fueled by obsession, lacks the necessary moral strength not only in its bloodthirstiness but also soon drags down all that is noble. A profound connoisseur of psychology, who experienced many forms of malice in his youth, illustrates this unfortunate process through a two-hundred-year-old conflict between two officers of Napoleon's army, recorded in a sarcastically solemn tone in the annals of fencing. The relentless clashes between the adversaries, from Strasbourg to Austerlitz, Jena, Borodino, and through the dictator's fall to the early years of Bourbon restoration, are captured with an emphasis on the inner lives of characters who are on the brink of undergoing a revolution known as literary modernism. The result is a chilling tragicomedy fueled by the machinations of the righteous, the speculations of the uninvolved, a dubious conception of honor, and the intrigues of schemers.