Imaginary Lives by Marcel Schwob is a cult classic and a quiet cornerstone of modern literature. First published in 1896, it remains one of the great hidden influences on writers like Borges, Bolano, Apollinaire and Artaud.
Across twenty-two vivid portraits, Schwob brings to life figures drawn from the fringes of history — from Empedocles, the supposed god, to Clodia, the licentious matron, to pirates, poets, and those remembered for all the wrong reasons. These are stories of strange lives and unforgettable details, full of invention and poetic licence.
Inspired by ancient historians like Plutarch and Diogenes Laërtius, and shaped by the more recent influence of Thomas De Quincey and Walter Pater, Schwob pioneered the genre of fictional biography. He celebrated the singular and the eccentric, favouring the remarkable over the respectable, the vice over the virtue.
Imaginary Lives is a book for readers who love the overlooked, the odd, and the oddly true. A literary collector’s piece and a beautiful addition to any bookshelf.
Published by Wakefield Press. Made in the USA.
