The Angels of Perversity

By Remy De Gourmont

"Anatole France called Remy de Gourmont (1858-1915) the 'greatest living French writer'. The stories Francis Amery has collected and translated under the not inappropriate title The Angels of Perversity are from the first half of Gourmont's career, when, as a writer of short fictions he established himself as a significant figure in the Symbolist movement."
Adrian Tahourdin in The Times Literary Supplement

Contents

1.Studies in Fascination
Pehor
The White Dress
Don Juan�s Secret
The Fugitives
Limpid Eyes
The Shroud
On the Threshold
The Red Marguerite
Sylvie�s Sister
The Other
The Death One Cannot Mourn
The Magnolia
The Adulterous Candle
The Dress
The Faun
Danaette
Evening Conversation Strategems

2.The Phantom

The Portal
The Palace of Symbols
Duplicity Incense
The Organ
Images
Tears The Unicorns
The Figures
Laughter
Flagellation
The Rings

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dedalus Ebooks
• Release date: Jul 30, 2011
• ISBN: 9781907650512

Book preview

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Reviews for The Angels of Perversity

[poetontheone · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Gourmont's short pieces are very reminiscent of Poe, albeit more blatantly erotic and with indelibly Catholic overtones throughout. These two elements are more strongly linked in Le fantome, where the stories are one continuous tale, than in the first collection; which seems to be the stronger of the two. It's interesting to note that the cover photograph is a still taken from the film "La femme et Le Pantin", based on the novel of the same name by Pierre Louys (another Symbolist writer). An intriguing short story collection for those who like Symbolist/Decadent literature.

[lisa_emily_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

There should be a genre called phantasmagoric fiction. Writings that threaten with an opium-tinged lethargy and hallucigenic seduction. Haunted plots inhabited by characters imbued with a particular cobalt, tedium vitae. Angels of Perversity would befit this genre. De Gourmont's collection of short stories- very short,some only a few pages long, carry a languor and slight Satanic gleaming. The story, "The Dress" , where a man falls in love with a dress, seems to cross a shadow in my mind every once and again.