These tales, published in 1929, 1930, and 1937 respectively, are all examples of the literary style invented by Gide called ricit. A ricit is a first-person tale told from the single point of view of one character with no authorial voice, studiedly simple but intrinsically ironic. In the case of Gide, it is for the sake of objectivity that he hands over his pen to his characters, although there are no grand objective statements and the irony belongs to the characters themselves, not the author.