Tales of the night / Peter Hoeg ; translated by Barbara Haveland

Journey into a dark heart -- Hommage à Bournonville - The verdict on the Right Honorable Ignatio Landstad Rasker, Lord Chief Justice -- An experiment on the constancy of love -- Portrait of the avant-garde -- Pity for the children of Vaden town -- Story of a marriage -- Reflection of a young man in balance.

In his second book and only collection of stories, Peter Hoeg proves himself to be a true storyteller in the tradition of Karen Blixen and Joseph Conrad. Set on the evening of March 19, 1929, these beautifully constructed literary tales deal with love, the classic arts and sciences, and the confrontation of Western and non-Western cultures. Moving from a railroad car in the Congo to a sailboat in Lisbon's harbor to an upper-class apartment in Copenhagen, they include the tales of a young, disillusioned mathematician who confronts his culture's distortion of Africa and of an esteemed judge who runs off with the young man he has just sentenced to prison for his homosexual tendencies.