Fin de Siècle/Fin du Globe: Fears and Fantasies of the Late Nineteenth Century

This volume is based upon papers given at the conference 'Fin de siecle/Fin du globe' held at the University of Warwick from 6-8 July 1990 under the auspices of the European Humanities Research Centre. I am grateful to the Centre, in particular to Tom Winnifrith and Marian Franklin, for their enthusiastic help in planning the conference, which I organised together with Carolyn Steedman of the Department of Arts Education.In the preparation of this book I had the invaluable editorial assistance of Ruth Robbins. Mrs Margaret Reade kindly allowed me to make use of her late husband's work on Aubrey Beardsley. I am also much indebted to "When centuries end, terminal myths begin to accrue, creating an ominous mood of fin de siecle/fin du globe. A superstitious belief that history is measured by the calendar comes into play."--BOOK JACKET. "The twelve internationally distinguished scholars who have contributed to this timely book were asked to take part in a collaborative act of demystification: a reconsideration of the eschatological ideas of the last fin de siecle, the notorious 1890s, in the light of the critical thought of the 1990s."--BOOK JACKET. "Their essays draw upon a range of contemporary approaches, Marxist, feminist, psychoanalytic and deconstructionist, and are broadly interdisciplinary. Major writers are set in context, among them Conrad, Morris, Wells, and Wilde. The ideas of Freud and Nietzsche are held up to scrutiny. Developments in music, mathematics and the fine arts are re-examined."--BOOK JACKET. "All the essays are characterized by a high degree of intellectual commitment, and by an emerging realization that, with a century's hindsight, the late 1800s should be seen not so much as a period of decadent decline as of discovery, growth, and healthy disturbance in unexpected places."--Jacket Front Matter....Pages i-xi Introduction....Pages 1-13 Writing Beyond the End....Pages 14-36 Fitness and the Fin de Siècle....Pages 37-51 Hopkins and Symons: Two Views of the City....Pages 52-68 The Apocalyptic Fables of H. G. Wells....Pages 69-84 Heart of Darkness: Geography as Apocalypse....Pages 85-101 New Time: Mignon and her Meanings....Pages 102-116 Freud’s’ secret Agent’ and the Fin du Corps....Pages 117-138 Vernon Lee: Decadent Woman?....Pages 139-161 Mahler / Strauss / Nietzsche....Pages 162-177 Decadent Parodies: Aubrey Beardsley’s Caricature of Meaning....Pages 178-209 Literary Radicalism in the British Fin de Siècle....Pages 210-219 Whose Spirit is This? Some Questions about Beginnings and Endings....Pages 220-239 Back Matter....Pages 240-248 The internationally distinguished scholars who have contributed to this timely book were asked to take part in a collaborative act of demystification: a reconsideration of the eschatological ideas of the last fin de sicle, the 1890s, in the light of the critical thought of the 1990s. Their essays draw upon a range of approaches, and are broadly interdisciplinary. All are characterised by the realisation that, with a century's hindsight, the late 1800s should be seen not so much as a period of decadence as of discovery and growth.