1900: A Fin-De-Siecle Reader [Anglais] [Broché]

At the turn of the 19th century, just as today, many people were terrified--or thrilled--by the seemingly unstoppable progress of science, wrestling with questions of sexual identity, turning away from traditional religions or taking refuge in spiritualism, the paranormal and "new age" philosophies.

From poetry to pulp fiction, scientific polemic to sexologicical speculation, 1900 brings together a fascinating collage of writings which encompass the amazing range of beliefs, ideas and obsessions current at the turn of the century.

"1900 offers a striking vision of the fin-de-siècle shock of the new no less than the fatigue of the old, regeneration no less than degeneration, the viewpoints of scientists and futurists as well as decadent poets" Roy Porter.

"1900" is a splendid starting point for analysis of fin-de-siècle thought and for understanding the millenium" Elaine Showalter

At the turn of the nineteenth century, just like today, many people were terrified--or thrilled--by the seemingly unstoppable progress of science, wrestling with questions of sexual identity, and turning away from traditional religions or taking refuge in spiritualism, the paranormal, and "new age" philosophies. This selection of more than 120 writings from the four decades around 1900 brings together newspaper clippings, poetry, pulp fiction, scientific polemic, and sexological speculation, alongside classic texts by Conan Doyle, Stevenson, Wells, Dickens, Ibsen, Ruskin, and Zola. Vividly illuminating both the similarities and the differences between millennial and fin-de-siecle anxieties, this dazzling anthology forces us to look again at the progress we have made (or failed to make) in the last hundred years.

"A splendid starting-point for analysis of fin-de-siecle thought and for understanding the millennium"-- Elaine Showalter

Mike Jay is the author of Blue Tide: The Search for Soma.

Michael Neve is a historian at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine in London.