Villiers de L’Isle-Adam’s Anarchism: A Legacy of the Paris Commune

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article revisits Villiers de L'Isle-Adam's political affinities with fin-de-siècle anarchism through a reading of two of his late short stories, ‘Le Banquet des Éventualistes' and ‘L'Etna chez soi'. My re-evaluation involves moving away from l'ère des attentats of 1892–94 and returning to the Paris Commune as a key event for anarchism. Drawing on the work of Kristin Ross and Julia Nicholls as well as Villiers's own experiences of the Commune, I explore how Villiers situates anarchism within the Commune’s legacy, an act of political allyship that somewhat fittingly earns him an anarchist afterlife amongst his contemporaries and beyond.