Axel's Castle: A Study of the Imaginative Literature of 1870-1930

Published in 1931, ''Axel's Castle: A Study in the Imaginative Literature of 1870–1930'' is a foundational work of literary criticism by Edmund Wilson. It is widely recognized for tracing the origins and development of the Symbolist movement and its profound influence on 20th-century Modernist literature.

The book's title is derived from the play Axël (1890) by Villiers de l'Isle-Adam. The character of Count Axël represents a total retreat from reality into a "castle" of private fantasy and ...