Abstract

The fin de siècle has long been appraised as a period of simultaneous decadence and renaissance in the European context. The dialectical interrelation between these poles is often taken to encapsulate all aspects of society, from art to politics. This was an epoch during which the seemingly calcified power structures and norms of society, most notably colonialism, capitalism, class, and sex, were actively confronted with alternative approaches that stressed the infinite possibilities of the coming twentieth century. Challenges to the status quo were widespread and varied: from Austria to Britain, women's movements emerged, which not only demanded equality but sought further redefinition of the public sphere;1 in ..