Conference on Fin-de-Siècle Modernisms at the University of South Carolina

From 28 February to 1 March 2025, University of South Carolina hosted the conference Fin-de-Siècle Modernisms, which focused on the literature and culture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Participants explored how new self-consciously modern aesthetic forms of expression emerged and how the artistic trends of the 19th century evolved into the innovative cultural phenomena of the early 20th century.

Three members of the decadence project gave presentations.

Ian Gwin gave a paper The Travels of the Happy Prince: Fairy Tales, Aestheticism, and the Formation of National Literatures in the Baltics, Mirjam Hinrikus delivered a talk titled Linguistic Innovation, Nationalism, and Literary Decadence: The Estonian Case and Merlin Kirikal gave a presentation on the New Woman fiction in the Estonian key 1914–1923.

The keynote speakers were Kristin Mahoney (Michigan State University) and Ana Parejo Vadillo (Birkbeck College). The main organizers were Julie Wise and Yvonne Ivory.

The program can be accessed here.