Brigitta Restorff Knihy

Jacques Derrida writes (in Deconstruction and Criticism) of The Madness of the Day that it is "a story whose title runs wild and drives the reader mad.la folie du jour, the madness of today, of the day today, which leads to the madness that comes from the day, is born of it, as well as the madness of the day itself, itself mad..La folie du jour is a story of madness, of that madness that consists in seeing the light, vision or visibility, to see beyond what is visible, is not merely 'to have a vision' in the usual sense of the word, but to see-beyond-sight, to see-sight-beyond-sight..The story obscures the sun.with a blinding light."

Hlavní hrdina je vzdělaný a sečtělý bonviván znechucený vším, co dříve miloval – dobrým jídlem, uměním i literaturou a dochází nakonec až k úplnému odmítání života. Román, považovaný za „bibli dekadence“, našel u nás odezvu především u Karáska ze Lvovic.