Gods Among Mortals

In ancient Sicily, Empedocles appears as a figure shrouded in myth, believed by his followers to have lived many lives before arriving in human form. Dressed in regal purple and gold, he heals the sick, commands the elements, and preaches a cosmic philosophy: all beings are fragments of a lost sphere of love, separated by hate. His miracles—such as resurrecting Panthea, a noblewoman—cement his divinity in the eyes of the people. Yet, his story ends in mystery: after a night of celebration, he vanishes, leaving only a brazen sandal at the edge of Mount Etna's fiery abyss, suggesting a god's return to the elements.

The Fire of Fame

In Ephesus, Herostratos, an outcast obsessed with his own name, sets fire to the great temple of Artemis. Denied priesthood and scorned by society, he seeks notoriety above all, believing that destruction will immortalize him. His act is both sacrilege and self-creation, as he shouts his name into the flames. Though authorities decree his name never be spoken, the story of his crime persists, a testament to the dark allure of infamy and the human hunger for remembrance at any cost.

Poverty's Philosopher

Born to wealth, Crates renounces his inheritance after a vision, choosing instead the life of a beggar-philosopher in Athens. He lives simply, carrying his possessions in a sack, and finds contentment in animal-like existence, free from social conventions. His kindness and humility attract followers, including Hipparchia, who joins him in poverty and public disregard. Crates' philosophy is one of radical acceptance and self-sufficiency, mocking both the powerful and the pious, and finding dignity in the lowest forms of life.

Enchantments and Shadows

In Hadrumetum, the slave Septima is caught between the forces of love (Eros) and its adversary (Anteros). Her forbidden love for Sextilius leads her to invoke her dead sister Phoinissa for help. The result is tragic: the dead sister, unable to help, instead claims Sextilius and Septima for the underworld. Their deaths, entwined in love and magic, reveal the futility of human desire against the cosmic struggle of opposing divine forces, and the inescapable pull of fate and death.

The Atomist's Sorrow

Raised in isolation, Lucretius turns from love's disappointments to the philosophy of Epicurus, seeing the world as a dance of atoms, love as a chemical urge, and death as dissolution. Yet, even as he rationalizes sorrow, he cannot escape it. Poisoned by his lover, he experiences madness, love, and death in quick succession, embodying the tragic gap between intellectual understanding and the raw force of human emotion.

Rome's Scandalous Sister

Clodia, born into Roman nobility, is infamous for her beauty, manipulations, and incestuous love for her brother Clodius. Her life is a whirlwind of political intrigue, sexual scandal, and violence—culminating in the murder of her husband and the eventual ruin and death of both siblings. Clodia's relentless pursuit of pleasure and power leaves her isolated, her beauty and spirit ultimately destroyed by the very passions she unleashed.

The Art of Decadence

Petronius, born into luxury, becomes a chronicler of Rome's underbelly, fascinated by the lives of slaves, gladiators, and outcasts. His art blurs the line between observation and participation, as he abandons writing to live among the people he once depicted. His end comes not in the courts of power, but in obscurity and violence, his life a testament to the seductive pull of decadence and the dissolution of boundaries between art and reality.

The Magician's Fate

Sufrah, the African magician, escapes death through geomancy and seeks the legendary ring of Solomon. His journey through the desert and into the tomb of the ancient king is marked by magical trials and omens. Upon seizing the ring, Sufrah gains immortality, but at the cost of his own life—his blood spilled as he takes Solomon's place in the eternal sleep. The story is a meditation on the price of forbidden knowledge and the cyclical nature of power.

Heresy and Innocence

Dolcino, inspired by visions and miracles, preaches a return to innocence and communal living, attracting followers from all walks of life. His movement, blending charity, heresy, and childlike faith, is ultimately crushed by authorities. Dolcino and his companion Margherita are burned at the stake, martyrs to a dream of purity and rebellion against the established order.

Hatred's Poet

Born the same day as Dante, Cecco is defined by his hatred—of his father, of Dante, of the world. His poetry is a weapon, mocking love and piety, and his life is a series of quarrels, betrayals, and acts of vengeance. Even when he inherits his father's wealth, guilt and rage consume him, and he seeks absolution in the rituals he once scorned. Cecco's story is a portrait of self-destruction through relentless negativity.

The Alchemist of Lines

Uccello, obsessed with geometry and perspective, seeks to distill all forms into a single, divine pattern. His love for the young Selvaggia is subsumed into his art, her death merely another set of lines to be studied. Uccello's isolation grows as his work becomes incomprehensible to others, culminating in a final masterpiece that only he understands. His life is a meditation on the costs of artistic obsession and the loneliness of visionary genius.

The Judge's Betrayal

Loyseleur, a churchman devoted to the Virgin, becomes infamous for his role in the trial and execution of Joan of Arc. Disguised as a friend, he extracts her confession, then manipulates the proceedings to ensure her condemnation. His tears at her death are ambiguous—pity, guilt, or self-pity—leaving him a figure of moral ambiguity, torn between faith and complicity in injustice.

Streets of Survival

Born into poverty in medieval Paris, Katherine becomes a lacemaker, then a streetwalker, her life shaped by the harsh realities of survival. Betrayed by lovers and friends, she drifts from trade to trade, finally becoming a nameless outcast known only as "The Snout." Her story is a stark depiction of the vulnerability and resilience of women on the margins of society.

Soldier's Descent

Alain, orphaned and raised by soldiers, learns the ways of war and survival. His life is a series of betrayals, thefts, and murders, culminating in his execution. Alain's story is a microcosm of the brutality and moral ambiguity of a world where violence is both livelihood and doom.

The Stage and the Sword

Raised among actors and outcasts, Gabriel becomes a celebrated performer, playing both women and men. His beauty and talent attract admirers and rivals, leading to a fatal duel with Ben Jonson. Gabriel's life and death blur the lines between performance and reality, gender and identity, art and violence.

The Princess and the Stranger

Daughter of King Powhatan, Pocahontas saves Captain John Smith and later marries John Rolfe, becoming a symbol of cultural encounter and loss. Her journey from the forests of Virginia to the courts of England ends in early death, her true name and identity obscured by myth. Pocahontas's life is a meditation on innocence, sacrifice, and the costs of contact between civilizations.

The Tragedian's Curse

Born of a prostitute and an unknown god, Tourneur is marked by blasphemy, ambition, and a hatred of kings and gods. His life is a series of provocations—murder, incest, and artistic creation—culminating in a mysterious disappearance during a plague. Tourneur embodies the tragic artist as both destroyer and creator, consumed by his own myth.

Fortune's Shipwreck

Phips, a poor shipbuilder, becomes obsessed with finding sunken treasure. After many trials, he discovers a fortune, is knighted, and becomes governor—only to lose everything through failed ventures and bad luck. He dies in prison, clutching the nugget that once made him rich. Phips's story is a parable of ambition, luck, and the fleeting nature of fortune.

Blood and Gold

Kidd, commissioned to hunt pirates, becomes one himself, driven by greed and haunted by the ghost of a murdered crewman. His exploits are marked by violence, betrayal, and the obsessive hiding of treasure. Captured and executed, Kidd's legend endures, his gold and his guilt never fully unearthed.

The Pirate's Code

Kennedy, an illiterate Irishman, becomes a pirate captain through brutality and cunning. His encounters with the pious Quaker Knot and eventual betrayal highlight the contradictions of pirate life—comradeship, violence, and the ever-present threat of death. Kennedy's execution is both farce and tragedy, his legacy one of rough humor and fleeting power.

The Gentleman Buccaneer

Major Stede-Bonnet, a gentleman driven mad by domestic unhappiness, abandons his plantation to become a pirate. Ill-suited to the life, he is quickly outmaneuvered by real pirates like Blackbeard and ultimately captured and executed. His story is a satire of romantic escapism and the dangers of living out one's fantasies.

Death in the Fog

In Edinburgh, Burke and Hare become infamous for murdering strangers and selling their bodies to anatomists. Their partnership is marked by a blend of practical cunning and morbid artistry, as they perfect the art of killing for profit. Their eventual capture and execution close the book with a meditation on the thin line between necessity, evil, and the commodification of death.

Characters

Empedocles

Empedocles is a figure of mythic stature, blending the roles of philosopher, magician, and god. His detachment from ordinary human concerns, his miracles, and his cosmic teachings set him apart as both revered and feared. His relationship with Panthea is marked by pity rather than passion, underscoring his otherworldliness. Empedocles's disappearance into the volcano symbolizes the ultimate return of the exceptional individual to the elemental forces from which he sprang.

Herostratos

Herostratos is driven by a pathological need for recognition, willing to destroy the sacred for the sake of his own name. His alienation from society and inability to find meaning in tradition or love lead him to a nihilistic act of self-creation. Herostratos's legacy is the paradox of fame through infamy, a warning about the destructive power of ego.

Crates

Crates embodies the philosophy of radical simplicity and acceptance. His rejection of wealth and status, and his embrace of animalistic living, challenge social norms. His relationships—with Hipparchia, his followers, and even his own body—are marked by compassion and humility. Crates's life is a study in the dignity of poverty and the wisdom of self-limitation.

Clodia

Clodia is a force of nature—passionate, cunning, and ultimately self-destructive. Her incestuous love for her brother, her political machinations, and her disregard for convention make her both fascinating and tragic. Clodia's relationships are transactional and volatile, leaving her isolated and ruined by the very desires she pursues.

Paolo Uccello

Uccello's life is consumed by the pursuit of artistic perfection, seeking to unify all forms through geometry. His inability to connect emotionally, even with his beloved Selvaggia, reflects the isolating effects of genius. Uccello's art becomes increasingly abstract and incomprehensible, mirroring his withdrawal from the world. His death, clutching a parchment of lines, is the final act of a life lived in pursuit of the absolute.

Nicolas Loyseleur

Loyseleur's outward piety masks a capacity for manipulation and betrayal. His role in Joan of Arc's trial reveals the dangers of institutional power wielded without conscience. Loyseleur's tears at Joan's death suggest a tortured soul, caught between faith, duty, and guilt.

Katherine the Lacemaker

Katherine's journey from playful child to streetwalker is a microcosm of the vulnerability of the poor, especially women. Her relationships are transactional, her identity eroded by necessity and betrayal. Katherine's story is one of resilience in the face of relentless hardship, but also of the erasure of self in a world that offers no refuge.

William Phips

Phips's relentless pursuit of treasure is both admirable and tragic. His rise from poverty to power, and his subsequent fall, reflect the capriciousness of fortune. Phips's relationships—with his crew, with authority, with luck—are transactional and ultimately disappointing. His end, clinging to a symbol of lost wealth, is a meditation on the emptiness of material success.

Captain Kidd

Kidd's transformation from pirate-hunter to pirate is marked by violence, paranoia, and a sense of doom. His relationships are defined by betrayal—of crew, of patrons, of himself. The ghost of his murdered gunner becomes a symbol of inescapable guilt, and his buried treasures a metaphor for unresolved sins.

Burke and Hare

Burke and Hare are united by a blend of practical necessity and morbid creativity. Their relationship is symbiotic, each enabling the other's worst impulses. Their crimes are both a response to social demand (for bodies) and an expression of personal pathology. Their story is a chilling exploration of the commodification of death and the banality of evil.

Plot Devices

Biographical Vignettes

Schwob structures the book as a series of short, self-contained biographies, each focusing on a single, extraordinary individual. This mosaic approach allows for a wide exploration of human nature, from the divine to the depraved, and emphasizes the uniqueness of each life while drawing out recurring themes of ambition, desire, and mortality.

Myth and History Intertwined

The narratives blend historical fact with myth, rumor, and invention, challenging the boundaries between reality and fiction. This device highlights the subjectivity of biography and the ways in which stories shape, distort, and immortalize their subjects.

Irony and Paradox

Many lives are defined by irony: the philosopher who cannot escape emotion, the artist whose vision isolates him, the seeker of fame remembered for infamy. Schwob uses paradox to underscore the complexity and unpredictability of human existence.

Symbolic Objects and Motifs

Items like Empedocles's sandal, Herostratos's fire, Uccello's lines, and Kidd's bloody bucket serve as recurring symbols, encapsulating the essence of each character's life and fate. These motifs tie the disparate stories together, reinforcing the book's themes.

Analysis

Imaginary Lives is a kaleidoscopic meditation on the singularity of human existence, the interplay of fate and will, and the thin line between greatness and infamy. Schwob's portraits, though rooted in history and legend, are less concerned with factual accuracy than with the inner truths and contradictions that define each life. By focusing on the bizarre, the marginal, and the exceptional, Schwob challenges the conventions of biography and history, suggesting that the essence of a person lies not in their public deeds but in their private obsessions, failures, and desires. The book anticipates modernist concerns with identity, narrative, and the construction of self, and remains a powerful exploration of the beauty and terror of individuality. Its lesson is both humbling and liberating: every life, no matter how obscure or monstrous, is a unique work of art, worthy of contemplation and, perhaps, understanding.

Last updated: July 3, 2025