M. Phocas reveals, indeed revels, in this literary incest as the 'diabolical Englishman', Claudius Ethal, a snobbish painter, seeks to corrupt the narrator - by sending him Goya prints. A Curiosity.' The Observer Monsieur de Phocas ranks with A Rebours as the summation of the French Decadent Movement. Monsieur de Phocas will appeal strongly to readers of Oscar Wilde and fin-de-siecle fiction.