The Gate of Ivory

Bernard Lazare

Translated by Brian Stableford

First published in 1898, and here made available for the first time in English in a translation by Brian Stableford, The Gate of Ivory was the last of Symbolist Bernard Lazare’s volumes of fiction to be released before his time was wholly taken up with the Dreyfus Affair.

Embedding tales within tales, this literary portmanteaux moves into the foreground of the reading experience the question of the functions of storytelling, developing a subversive skepticism and challenging orthodox thought. The Gate of Ivory was the most elaborate fruit of Lazare’s rare analytical fervor and intellectual commitment to Anarchist philosophy, and with its sophisticated polish it is surely one of the most unique feats of Symbolist fiction.

About the Author
Bernard Lazare (1865–1903) was a French Jewish literary critic and journalist. Though mostly remembered today for his prominent role in the Dreyfus Affair and his book Antisemitism: Its History and Causes, he was also an important member of the Symbolist movement, and one of its purest and most extravagant exponents. He wrote drama and some poetry, but the core of his production consisted of an extensive sequence of short stories, or elaborated poems in prose, most of which he published in Symbolist periodicals between 1887 and 1893, and which he subsequently organized into three augmented collections. Although somewhat neglected today, for reasons that have nothing to do with their literary and philosophical merit, Lazare’s short stories are key documents of the Symbolist movement, and a remarkable illustration of the methods and preoccupations of the writers whose activity constituted its heyday.

Paperback, 216 pages. Release date: April 28, 2020
ISBN-13: 978-1-64525-027-2
Price: US$17.50

Hardcover, 218 pages. Limited to 60 copies
Release date: April 28, 2020
Price: US$33.00