A Decadent Woman

Mathilde-Marie-Georgina-Élisabeth de Peyrebrune (1841-1917) who wrote under the pseudonym of Georges de Peyrebrune originally published A Decadent Woman in 1886 in two parts in the Revue Bleue. The novella appearing here for the first time in English in a translation by Brian Stableford along with three supplementary tales is one of Peyrebrunes most flamboyant works presenting a caricature of a high-profile variety of radical feminism which is demolished by the narrative in such an excessive fashion that it was evidently written tongue-in-cheek although it is probable that some readers were oblivious to its sarcastic humor.The three addition tales The Fays a perverse parody of a fairy tale The Red Bird a symbolist account of exotic madness and Salome a spectacular landmark of decadent fantasy are wonderful examples of Peyrebrunes work when she chose to venture into the avant garde herself.