{"product_id":"decadent-plays-1890-1930-salome-the-race-of-leaves-the-orgy-a-dramatic-poem-madame-la-mort-lilith-ennoia-a-triptych-the-black-maskers","title":"Decadent Plays: 1890-1930: Salome; The Race of Leaves; The Orgy: A Dramatic Poem; Madame La Mort; Lilith; Ennoïa: A Triptych; The Black Maskers;","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePoisoned cigars, seductive apparitions, minds and empires in the last of their decline and the most notorious kiss in dramatic history - decadent plays challenged the moral as much as the dramatic imagination of their own day, and continue to probe horizons of taste and the possibilities of stagecraft. \u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many writers reacted to urban modernity by embracing decadent themes and styles, and dramatists were no exception. Decadence offered these writers a framework for exploring nonconformist identities and beliefs that challenged behavioural norms as much as the desirability of modern progress. Decadent plays were at once behind the times in their celebration of antiquity, and forward-thinking in their staging of themes that have become all the more timely in the 21st century, including queerness, unconventional eroticism, and critiques of empire and industrial progress. Equally, the diversity of decadent drama cannot be pigeon-holed; many of these plays still have the capacity to offend worldviews, and invite us to interrogate present-day conventions and propriety. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eInternational in scope and eclectic in content, this edited anthology is an authoritative and accessible introduction to a fast-expanding field of decadent literature. The first publication of its kind to deal with decadent drama, and featuring plays translated into English for the first time, \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDecadent Plays: 1890 to 1930\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e breaks new ground by foregrounding decadence as a dramatic sensibility in this most pivotal of periods in the history of modern drama. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFeaturing canonical and little-known works by Oscar Wilde, Michael Field, Lesya Ukrainka, Rachilde, Remy de Gourmont, Jean Lorrain, Leonid Andreyev, Gabriele D'Annunzio, Maurice Maeterlinck, Izumi Kyoka, and Djuna Barnes, this anthology is an essential introduction to decadent drama that will pique the interest of specialists and non-specialists alike.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAdam Alston\u003c\/b\u003e is Senior Lecturer in Modern and Contemporary Theatre at Goldsmiths, University of London. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eStaging Decadence: Theatre, Performance, and the Ends of Capitalism\u003c\/i\u003e (2023) and \u003ci\u003eBeyond Immersive Theatre: Aesthetics, Politics and Productive Participation \u003c\/i\u003e(2016), and co-editor of \u003ci\u003eTheatre in the Dark: Shadow, Gloom and Blackout in Contemporary Theatre\u003c\/i\u003e (with Martin Welton, 2017) and a special issue of \u003ci\u003eVolupté Interdisciplinary Journal of Decadence Studies\u003c\/i\u003e on 'Decadence and Performance' (with Alexandra Bickley Trott, 2021). \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cb\u003eJane Desmarais\u003c\/b\u003e is Professor of English and Director of the Decadence Research Centre in the Department of English and Creative Writing at Goldsmiths, University of London. She is the author of \u003ci\u003eMonsters under Glass: A Cultural History of Hothouse Flowers, 1850 to the Present\u003c\/i\u003e (2018) and Editor-in-Chief of \u003ci\u003eVolupté International Journal of Decadence Studies\u003c\/i\u003e. She has written numerous essays and has co-edited several works on the theme of decadence, including \u003ci\u003eDecadence: An Annotated Anthology\u003c\/i\u003e (with Chris Baldick, 2012), \u003ci\u003eArthur Symons: Selected Early Poems\u003c\/i\u003e (with Chris Baldick, 2017), \u003ci\u003eDecadence and the Senses\u003c\/i\u003e (with Alice Condé, 2017), \u003ci\u003eDecadence and Literature\u003c\/i\u003e (with David Weir, 2019) and \u003ci\u003eThe Oxford Handbook of Decadence \u003c\/i\u003e(with David Weir, 2021).\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Methuen Drama","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50393293390098,"sku":"9781350171831","price":35.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_bcd59b01-4277-442f-b84f-61814ca7fbeb.jpg?v=1728987814","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/decadent-plays-1890-1930-salome-the-race-of-leaves-the-orgy-a-dramatic-poem-madame-la-mort-lilith-ennoia-a-triptych-the-black-maskers","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}