French decadent tales / translated with an introduction and notes by Stephen Romer.

Includes bibliographical references.

Don Juan's crowning love-affair / Jules Barbey D'Aurevilly -- The presentiment ; The desire to be a man ; Sentimentalism / Villiers De L'Isle-Adam -- What the shadow demands / Catulle Mendès -- A dentist terribly punished ; The last bake ; The lucky sixpence / Léon Bloy -- On a cure ; The bath ; The first emotion ; The little summer-house / Octave Mirbeau -- Constant Guignard ; Deshoulières ; Pft! Pft! / Jean Richepin -- At the death-bed ; A walk ; The tresses ; Night / Guy De Maupassant -- The statue / Gustave Geffroy -- An unsolved crime ; The student's tale ; The man with the bracelet ; The man who loved consumptives / Jean Lorrain -- The time / Georges Rodenbach -- Danaette ; The faun ; Don Juan's secret ; On the threshold / Remy De Gourmont -- Perseus and Andromeda / Jules Laforgue -- The brothel ; The sans-gueule ; 52 and 53 Orfila ; Lucretius, poet ; Paolo Uccello, painter / Marcel Schwob -- A case without precedent / Pierre Louÿs.

"This newly translated selection of 36 of the best decadent tales from the French fin-de-siecle brings together some the most exotic, stylized, and cerebral literature in the French language. Hilarious and horrifying, these extraordinary, corrosive little tales cast a cold eye on the modern world"--back cover.