The Guillotine

"The Guillotine" is a haunting short story told in the first person—about guilt, justice,

and a man's last hours staring death in the face. The unnamed narrator stands trial before a French colonial court,

condemned for killing his wife's lover. What seems like a simple crime of jealousy unfolds into the tragedy of a man trapped

in a system where justice and revenge blur into one.

The setting is the infamous penal colony of Cayenne, French Guiana, where the guillotine is not only an instrument of law

but a permanent reminder of death. Amid sweltering heat, brutal routines, and inhuman conditions, the narrator reflects

on his life, his guilt, and the question of what a human being still feels in their final days.

The blade is at the heart of every thought: Do you feel it? Is there a last moment of awareness? Or is death nothing but a cut into nothingness?

With its stark language, its intimate inner voice, and its unflinching picture of prison life,

"The Guillotine" carries a raw existential weight. The inmates are no heroes, but neither are they monsters—

they're lost souls in the grip of a merciless world where death is routine and mercy looks like punishment.

Especially chilling is the portrayal of executions as a monthly ritual, heads rolling while guards and onlookers barely blink.

In this grim theater the story reaches its last, quiet truth: death is quick—and final.



Autor: Henrik Mains | Jahrgang 1959



Henrik Mains entdeckt in seinen Geschichten die feinen Linien zwischen Wirklichkeit und Vorstellung. Er schreibt fiktive Kurzgeschichten, die Alt und Jung gleichermaßen fesseln – mal mit leiser Poesie, mal mit spannender Dramatik.



Historische Bezüge fließen dabei ebenso in seine Texte ein wie alltägliche Beobachtungen, die er mit erzählerischer Fantasie zu lebendigen Welten verwebt.



Seine Leser schätzen besonders die Mischung aus Tiefe, Atmosphäre und leicht zugänglicher Sprache.