I now see John Senior’s Way Down and Out is a blatant copy of Arthur Symons. Senior rewrites this book exactly like Symons, even quoting French Literature at length without translation, just as Symons does- except he goes further. Where Symons hints that he is intrigued by esoteric, Senior makes tha

A good overview of the writers of the symbolist/decadent school, more interesting because Symons apparently knew some of them well. The text pointed me toward a number of unfamiliar works that I'll try to find in translation. I really should have learned French a long time ago.

one of the least read and most important books in (affecting) literary history

Arthur Symons writes symbolism is “the affirmation of an eternal, minute, intricate, almost invisible life” (80), revealing something of the mystical quality Symon praises for nearly all the poets, novelists, and dramatists he writes of. These French symbolist authors include Gerard de Nerval, Arthu

Very good, very interesting in a number of ways. Firstly, probably, you've heard of it because TS Eliot apparently formed his conception of the type of poetry he wanted to write from it. That makes it pretty important in the history of literature.
Secondly, its subject matter, the French literature

Acquired 1996
The Word, Montreal, Quebec