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Fiction. This anthology is the largest ever selection from the Decadent and Symbolist writers of the French fin-de-siècle-a period whose social and spiritual ills had so much in common with those of today. The selection is based on a series of essays on contemporary writers published as THE BOOK OF MASKS by the foremost critic and author of the period: Remy de Gourmont. (The "masks" are remarkable portrait drawings by Felix Vallotton.) De Gourmont's essays brilliantly evoke the pre-occupations of each author, their genius and shortcomings, while simultaneously describing, and contributing to, the literary theories of the movement. His introduction provides one of the most important overviews of Symbolism and describes its gradual subsidence into its "dark side": decadence. De Gourmont's book consisted solely of essays, but the editor of this anthology has added characteristic texts from each writer to accompany them. Nearly fifty are included, ranging from the extraordinarily obscure and unjustly forgotten to the literary giants of the day. Here are works by Gide, Mallarmé, and Verlaine which have never before appeared in English.
| Editor's Preface | 7 | |
| Texts from The Book of Masks, Colours, Proses Moroses and Le Latin Mystique | 11 | |
| From Tea at Miranda's, Second Evening: The Hague, pearl-grey... and At The Railway-Station | 23 | |
| From Tea at Miranda's, Second Evening: La Faenza | 29 | |
| Salamander The Vampire | 37 | |
| The Tractate Narcissus, (Theory of the Symbol) | 43 | |
| Five texts from The East I Know | 51 | |
| Of Things | 57 | |
| Aristophanesque Poems | 61 | |
| Conversation Concerning the Life and Death of Ravachol | 67 | |
| Frog-Killer | 73 | |
| In Perpetuum | 83 | |
| The Bird-Charmer, and selected 3 Line Novels | 89 | |
| Thus the Blood of the Spirit Cried Out | 93 | |
| Chardonnerette | 99 | |
| Poems from Hot-Houses | 107 | |
| Paris by Night, and Paris by Day | 113 | |
| The Aquarium | 117 | |
| Vowels, and Farewell | 121 | |
| From Thule of the Mists: Nightfumes | 125 | |
| Poems from Blue Hydrangeas, and Goldsmith & Glass-maker | 133 | |
| Miracles, and Armentaria | 139 | |
| Miracles: Ecstasy, Apocalypse | 145 | |
| Saint Lydwine of Schiedam, and Chlorotic Ballad | 149 | |
| A New Sensation and extracts from The Young Girl's Handbook of Good Manners | 157 | |
| From Hyalis the Blue-Eyed Faun | 167 | |
| From Fil-de-Fer | 173 | |
| Dizzy Spells: Surprises, Night | 177 | |
| The Gloved Hand | 183 | |
| From Les Chants de Maldoror | 189 | |
| The Iron Maiden | 195 | |
| Prose Interludes from Nomadic Palaces | 199 | |
| The Signpost | 205 | |
| Nocturne | 214 | |
| With Upraised Nails... and The Supposed Old Woman | 215 | |
| The Story of Hermagoras | 223 | |
| From Natural Histories | 229 | |
| Hate Conquers All | 233 | |
| Prose poems from Pauses in the Procession | 239 | |
| Jacques: Dreams, Reveries and Parisian Sketches | 249 | |
| The Queen of Queens & her Lover the Great Blue Lake | 257 | |
| The Night-time Washerwoman | 261 | |
| The Horse-Fair at Opdorp, and Rain | 269 | |
| Swan-Killer | 277 | |
| Four stories from The Book of Monelle, and one from The King in The Golden Mask | 279 | |
| Omitted authors | 293 | |
| Notes | 295 | |
| Bibliography | 299 | |
| Future issues of The Arkhive & other Atlas publications | 301 |
Overview
Fiction. This anthology is the largest ever selection from the Decadent and Symbolist writers of the French fin-de-siècle-a period whose social and spiritual ills had so much in common with those of today. The selection is based on a series of essays on contemporary writers published as THE BOOK OF MASKS by the foremost critic and author of the period: Remy de Gourmont. (The "masks" are remarkable portrait drawings by Felix Vallotton.) De Gourmont's essays brilliantly evoke the pre-occupations of each author, ...