A painter who became a novelist, Théophile Gautier formulated
the notion of "art for art's sake." In this literary gem, the gaze
is the central character as the eye of the beholder turns deadly.
Paul d' Aspremont, on holiday in Italy, meets his fiancée in all
but name, a young English girl named Alicia Ward. What begins as an
urbane and courtly affair descends into a Gothic nightmare as Paul
is revealed to possess the "evil eye," a jinx that kills all those
he befriends. Novelist, poet, and critic, Théophile Gautier was a
key figure in the Romantic movement in France.