Mainly the book describes the literature produced in Britain towards the end of the nineteenth century we find a heightened interest in the description of an inherently dysfunctional universe. This preoccupation has naturally had a bearing on our conception of the "spirit of the age." Traditionally, the 1890s have been seen as a period of decadence, an era in which the general artistic mood was characterised by morbidity, disillusion and pessimism.