Bernard-Lazare

Lazare, Bernard (1865–1903), French writer and journalist. He is best known for his decisive role, along with Zola, in the appeal of the Dreyfus case and for his pioneering studies of anti‐Semitism. Written for adults, the stories in his collection, Le Miroir des légendes (The Mirror of Legends, 1892), reinterpret biblical and classical myths, and several incorporate fairy‐tale motifs. In ‘Les descendents d'Iskendar’ (‘The Descendants of Iskender’) and ‘Les Fleurs’ (‘The Flowers’), the accumulation of enchanted beings and objects complements Lazare's evocative and richly descriptive narrative style.

— Adrienne E. Zuerner

Bernard-Lazare (pseud. of Lazare Bernard) (1865-1903) began as a Symbolist writer, but before long threw himself into three overlapping battles. Against social injustice, he appealed to anarchism because it promised both bread and liberty. The battle against antisemitism was less straightforward and the controversial L'Antisémitisme, son histoire et ses causes (1894) reflects the antisemitic and philo-Semitic stages of his thought. Thirdly, Une erreur judiciaire: la vérité sur l'Affaire Dreyfus (1896) is the first history of the case and a precursor of ‘J'accuse’ [see Zola], alleging that the Affair was not a simple miscarriage of justice but an antisemitic creation. He died before Dreyfus's innocence was publicly recognized.

[Nelly Wilson]