A gay count and his love for a peasant, and the attack by his community set on him by a woman jealous for the count's affections.

The novel motivated authorities to place Eekhound on trial in October 1900 for depicting homosexuality, but he was eventually acquitted.

Also see:

• "Gay Taboos in 1900 Brussels: The Literary, Journalistic and Private Debate Surrounding Georges Eekhoud's Novel Escal-Vigor" (2018) by Michael Rosenfield
• "Du national au transnational. Escal-Vigor (1899) et sa traduction en néerlandais" (2014) by Kris Peeters
• "Martyrologe d’un genre nouveau: Le Dénouement d’Escal-Vigor de Georges Eekhoud" (2006) by Philippe Chavasse

Editions

• Paris : Société du Mercure de France (1899) 261p.
• Paris : Mercure de France (1901) 252p. Spine seen at La Bataille des Livres. Title page by Wikimedia.
• Bruxelles : The Gutemburg Press (1909) in English. 271p. 1,150 copies.
• New York : Panurge Press (1930) as A Strange Love: A Novel of Abnormal Passion. 252p. 1,010 copies, 10 for the press editors

Trigger Warnings

MURDER: of both main characters.

The introduction by "Gauntlet" in English editions is also extraordinarily homophobic.