[In the following essay, Gruzinska discusses Mirbeau's portrayal ofHonore de Balzac's wife in La 628-E-8 and compares her portrayal with those of other women in Le Calvaire, Le jardin dès supplices, and Le journal d'une femme de chambre.]

The bizarre title of La 628-E-8 suggests a mystery novel for which the work itself was once mistaken. Actually it is probably the first book ever written on the automobile, and it describes Mirbeau's tour through France, the Rhineland and, as he puts it in Montaigne-like fashion, "a travers un peu de moi-meme."

The various episodes of La 628-E-8 are a blend of fiction, reality and literary criticism, and seem to have nothing else to bind them together other than the author and his car. An occasional cameo-appearance by Mirbeau's friends and acquaintances may be intended to give the impression that the stories are true. What is more, the...