Gli Idioti = The Idiots

by Joseph Conrad

"Gli Idioti = The Idiots" by Joseph Conrad is a short story first published in 1896. Set in rural Brittany, it follows a farming couple whose children are born with intellectual disabilities. As the strain of their circumstances intensifies, Jean-Pierre and Susan Bacadou face mounting desperation about their family's future and the farm's succession. The story builds toward a violent climax involving murder and suicide, all framed by the narrator's encounter with "the idiots" on a country road. Conrad's first published story explores themes of isolation and human desperation.