The fin de siecle, the period 1880-1914, long associated with decadence and with the literary movements of aestheticism and symbolism, has received renewed critical interest recently. The essays in this volume form a valuable introduction to fin de siecle cultural studies and provide a commentary on important aspects of current critical debate and the place of culture in society.
Pykett's book is a valuable contribution to the study of late-Victorian fictions. Taken together, the essays constitute a varied, interdisciplinary synopsis of the cultural history of the fin de siecle, and they introduce scholar and student alike to the tenets and methods of important critical approaches to fiction. -
European MessengerGeneral Editors' Preface Acknowledgements 1. Introduction 2. Nina Auerback, Magi and Maidens: The Romance of the Victorian Freud 3. Sandra M Gilbert, Rider Haggard's Heart of Darkness 4. Linda Dowling, The Decadent and the New Woman in the 1890s 5. Stephen Heath, Psychopathia Sexualis: Stevenson's Strange Case 6. Richard Dellamora, Homosexual Scandal and Compulsory Heterosexuality in the 1890s 7. Ed Cohen, Writing Gone Wilde: Homoerotic Desires in th Closet of Representation 8. Jonathan Dollimore, Different Desires: Subjectivity and Transgression in Wilde and Gide 9. Daniel Pick, 'Terrors of the night': Dracula and 'degeneration' in the late ninetheenth century 10. Elaine Showalter, Syphilis, Sexuality and the Fiction of the Fin de Siecle 11. Patrick Brantlinger, Imperial Gothic: Atavism and the Occult in the British Adventure Novel, 1880-1914 12. Benita Parry, The Content and Discontents of Kipling's Imperialism 13. Edward Said, Conrad's Heart of Darkness and the Histories of Empire Bibliography Index