Villiers de l'Isle-Adam, Philippe Auguste Mathias, comte de

Villiers de l'Isle-Adam, Philippe Auguste Mathias, comte de

(fēlēp` ōgüst` mätyäs` kôNt də vēyā` də lē`l-ädäN`), 1838–89, French novelist. His works, in the romantic style, are often fantastic in plot and filled with mystery and horror. Important among them are the drama Axel (revision, 1890), the novel L'Éve future (1886), and the short-story collection, Contes cruels (1883, tr. Sardonic Tales, 1927).