SOURCE: "The Motif of the 'Dessous' in Les Diaboliques," in Romance Notes, Vol. XI, No. 3, Spring, 1970, pp. 553-56.

In the following essay, Freimanis examines the relationship between surface appearances and underlying dark passions in The Diaboliques.

Among the six short stories contained in Barbey d'Aurevilly's Les Diaboliques there is one that bears the significant title "Les Dessous de cartes d'une partie de whist." Only its final pages reveal what has been developing under the surface of events: devastating passion and crime. Such a juxtaposition of the apparent and the hidden is essential to all the Diaboliques. The manifestations of the dessous offer enough variety to justify their examination.

A certain progression seems evident in the order of the stories. The first one, "Le Rideau cramoisi," announces the theme of the simultaneous existence of overt coldness and hidden passion in an individual. The vicomte de Brassard recalls his experiences...