Raymond Brulez is a Flemish author, whose work is described as surprisingly modern, and therefore, supposedly, still accessible to modern readers. This is a somewhat contentious statement. Despite several reprints which have appeared over the past ten years, Brulez does not seem to appeal strongly to modern readership, and his work is on the brink of being forgotten.

Its modernity was not what first appealed to me in Sheherazade of literatuur als losprijs, originally published in 1933. Rather, its affinity with Brulez' great predecessors in Dutch letters, and the lyrical style of Couperus, particularly in the treatment of classical antiquity in a quasi-modern style of writing caught my attention. However, Brulez does not master or maintain that elevated style, and most of the stories in this short story collection are written in, as praised by others, a much more modern style.

The collection of short stories is preceded by an essay on "literature as temptation". ( )