The Book of Masks
Subtitle: An Anthology of French Symbolist & Decadent Writing (Atlas Arkhive, No 2)
Publisher: Atlas Press
Published: April 1995
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 304
ISBN-13: 9780947757816
Subjects: Collections & anthologies of various literary forms; Literature: Classics; 19th Century Literature - History And Criticism; Fiction - General; French; Translations into English; Short Stories (Anthologies); 19th century; France; French Literature; History and criticism; Symbolism (Literary movement)
Description: 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 extraordinary obscure and unjustly forgotten to the literary giants of the day. Here are works by Gide, Mallarme and Verlaine which have never before appeared in English.