Roger Caillois (1913–1978) was a brilliant polymath and a virtuoso essayist. In this book, he turns his attention to the mysterious—whether it be the enigmatic products of an artist’s creative imagination or the strange, evocative creations of the natural world.

For Roger Caillois, the "unknown" does not equate to the "unknowable." In his view, a sense of wonder in the face of a mystery serves only to stimulate an inquisitive mind, sparking a desire to "decipher" the meaning of unexplained phenomena and to discover the key to an unfamiliar code.

Readers will find themselves captivated as they follow the development of an analytical line of thought, inspired by the discoveries of the author’s own creative intuition.