Scholars have traditionally judged "fin-de-siecle" British fiction as insignificant, a stopover between high-Victorian realism and Modernist experimentation. But the decade's sexual mores and changing gender roles, its fascination with the criminal mind, the life of the city and the idea of empire prefigure many present preoccupations and unresolved anxieties. This book reconsiders the fiction of the 1890s. The essays seek to re-establish the importance of forgotten or undervalued "fin-de-siecle" works and genres - such as detective fiction, the adventure tale, the slum novel and futurist fantasy - as well as to reconsider the criteria by which more established works and authors of the decade have been judged. The collection also reprints Aubrey Beardsley's earliest published work of fiction, "The Story of a Confession Album".