The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether is a dark short story centred on a naïve and unnamed narrator's visit to a mental asylum in the southern provinces of France.
This “Maison de Santé” is led by Doctor Maillard, known for a revolutionary new method of treating mental illness, called the “system of soothing”. The narrator is invited to dinner, and at the table strange things happen, shocking terribly the narrator. What kind of treatment is going on in this mental asylum? How will the story end?
The text includes four skills activities and dossiers to expand the cultural aspects associated with the story and connected to the setting.