Diary of a Chambermaid: A Novel

Octave Mirbeau (1848-1917) was an outstanding French writer, novelist, playwright and publicist, known for his sharp pen and uncompromising views. A member of the Académie Goncourt, he combined the aesthetics of decadence and the influence of anarchism in his work, which fully reflected his turbulent fate. The familiar world of bourgeois good order in which he grew up was destroyed after his marriage to the cabaret artist Alice Renier. This step forever changed his life and outlook on society.

Mirbeau, like no one else, understood the fine line between vice and virtue. His works, which frankly depict the passions, vices and internal contradictions of society, invariably provoked scandals and the indignation of the Puritans. In his novels and dramas, he fiercely denounced the vices of the modern civilized world, where the individual loses his individuality.

The novel "The Diary of a Chambermaid" is one of Mirbeau's most famous works. The main character, a maid named Celestine, gets a job in the house of the Monteil family and begins to keep a diary full of spicy and shocking details. Her notes not only openly illuminate the dark sides of the owners' lives, but also raise questions of morality, hypocrisy and social contradictions. This novel is not just a story, but a subtle, provocative satire on a society that seeks to hide its shortcomings behind a mask of decency.