L’éro-guro chez Edogawa Rampo

«L ’ égo-guro in Edogawa Rampo » This paper deals with the notion of «ero-guro » by analysing some short stories written by Edogawa Rampo (1894-1965), pioneer of the detective novel in Japan. The terme ero-guro (erotism and grotesque) is one of the key words for understanding the Japanese culture in the 1920’s. Pornography in prints survived still as a tradition, but the influence of European and American culture made the things more varied and complex. Certain social events helped trigger a new tendency of erotism : the economic depression and the increase of the workless created a mood of decadence and ennui ; and the anonymity of modem life provoked the desire of peeping and the great interest in psychology. Edogawa introduced into his work an erotism at the limit between perversity and crime. He described how uncontrollable the imagination could be, and how it coud invade, is slowly, the ordinary life of the popular class at this age.