The Cambridge Companion to the Fin de Siècle

Situated between the Victorians and Modernism, the fin de siècle is an exciting and rewarding period to study. In the literature and art of the 1890s, the processes of literary and cultural change can be seen in action. In this, more than any previous decade, literature was an active and controversial participant within debates over morality, aesthetics, politics and science, as Victorian certainties began to break down. Oscar Wilde, Aubrey Beardsley, H. G. Wells, Bram Stoker and Olive Schreiner were among the most prominent, occasionally even notorious, writers and artists of the period, challenging establishment values and producing a distinctive literature of their own. This volume includes the main currents of radical and innovative thinking in the period, as well as the attempts to resist them. It will be of great interest to students of Victorian and twentieth-century literature, art and cultural history.

Situated between the Victorians and Modernism, the fin de siecle is an exciting and rewarding period to study. This volume will be of great interest to students of Victorian and twentieth-century literature, art and cultural history.

Introduction Gail Marshall; 1. Psychology at the fin de siècle Jenny Bourne Taylor; 2. Decadence and aestheticism Dennis Denisoff; 3. Sexual identity at the fin de siècle Richard A. Kaye; 4. Socialism and radicalism William Greenslade; 5. Empire Ross G. Forman; 6. Publishing industries and practices Margaret D. Stetz; 7. The visual arts Shearer West; 8. The New Woman and feminist fictions Sally Ledger; 9. Realism Stephen Arata; 10. The fantastic fiction of the fin de siècle Nicholas Ruddick; 11. Varieties of performance at the turn of the century John Stokes; 12. Poetry Marion Thain; Guide to further reading; Index.