"This splendid collection of essays, with its lucid, witty, and masterful introduction by the editors, will transform our understanding of the decadent aesthetic, and demonstrate its relevance to a wide range of important literature and art in Europe, England, the United States, and Latin America in the past 150 years. It is required and rewarding reading."--Elaine Showalter, Princeton University When Oscar Wilde was convicted of gross indecency in 1895, a reporter for the National Observer wrote that there was "not a man or a woman in the English-speaking world possessed of the...
"This splendid collection of essays, with its lucid, witty, and masterful introduction by the editors, will transform our understanding of the decaden...
When the rich and well-connected Raoule de Venerande becomes enamored of Jacques Silvert, a poor young man who makes artificial flowers for a living, she turns him into her mistress and eventually into her wife. Raoule's suitor, a cigar-smoking former hussar officer, becomes an accomplice in the complications that ensue.
When the rich and well-connected Raoule de Venerande becomes enamored of Jacques Silvert, a poor young man who makes artificial flowers for a livin...