Note: "Suicides" is included in some collections of contes fantastiques (fantastic stories) because it is a story of mental aberration: the suicidal state that its protagonist is driven to by monotony and loneliness. First published in a somewhat different form under the title "Comment on se brûle la cervelle" in Gil Blas, 29 August 1880, then revised in Gil Blas, 17 April 1883, with the signture Maufrigneuse.

Synopsis: Letter from a 57-year-old man describing the reasons for his suicide: decades of loneliness and endless repetition of meaningless activities, and finally, now that his health is failing, no remaining pleasures.