本书为1941年的短篇小说集，收小说七篇。其中，《小径分岔的花园》是侦探小说，讲述一桩罪行的准备工作和实施过程。小径分岔的花园是一个谜语，或者说寓言，而谜底正是时间。

An enormous effort of narrative complexity made up of six independent, successive stories, connected by the same four actresses living very different experiences in very different universes…

我们熟悉的世界仍有无数空洞，有待落笔描述。在科塔萨尔笔下，世界宛如一张折纸展开，内里的一重重奇遇让人目眩神迷。噩梦般的气息侵入老宅，居住其中的两人步步撤退，终于彻底逃离；乘电梯上二楼时，突然感觉要吐出一只兔子；遇见一个生活轨迹与自己酷似的男孩，由此窥见无尽轮回的一角……读过科塔萨尔的人，绝不会感到乏味。日常生活里每一丝微妙的体验，都像一场突如其来的即兴演奏，让你循着心底的直觉与渴望，抵达意想不到的终点。 《被占的宅子》为科塔萨尔短篇全集第1辑，收录《彼岸》《动物寓言集》《游戏的终结》三部短篇集，其中《彼岸》为中文首次出版。《彼岸》轻灵可爱，《动物寓言集》别致精妙，《游戏的终结》深邃离奇，科塔萨尔说：“我想创作的是一种从未有人写过的短篇小说。”

Injustice and the demands of the world can cause stress for many people. Some of them, however, explode. This includes a waitress serving a grouchy loan shark, an altercation between two motorists, an ill-fated wedding reception, and a wealthy businessman who tries to buy his family out of trouble.

Hoping to put to rest years of unease concerning a past case, retired criminal investigator Benjamín begins writing a novel based on the unsolved mystery of a newlywed’s rape and murder. With the help of a former colleague, judge Irene, he attempts to make sense of the past.