Decadence

• Credit value: 30 credits at Level 7
• Convenor: Carolyn Burdett

This module investigates the period of the fin de siècle, from 1880 to 1900. With its dandies, decadents and bicycle-riding New Women, the end of the century was viewed by some as the ‘dusk of nations’ amidst fears of social and cultural degeneration. Others celebrated the ending of a Victorian world seen as moralistic and conventional. New opportunities for women, new hopes of a socialist society and a newly energetic imperialism all characterise the period. The module explores some of the period’s vibrant, experimental, and at times dark and dangerous, cultural products. It also examines key debates such as degeneration, empire or prostitution.