The collection gathers satirical short pieces and sketches that examine manners, anxieties, and moral contradictions of modern life. Through ironic portraits, psychological vignettes and grotesque scenes, the pieces follow individuals whose private delusions, evasions, or exaltations expose social pretence and personal fragility. One story traces a sensitive woman's gradual adoption of a belief that she lacks a body as a means of coping with domestic pressures; others range from mock-sermons and sporting reveries to concise studies of extravagance and human foibles. The tone shifts between caustic wit and melancholy observation, offering varied formal experiments in satire and short fiction.