The Decadent Bestiary, ed. by Sam Kunkel and Jessica Gossling (Strange Attractor, 2025)
Wednesday 19th November 2025
18:30 – 20:30 at Waterstones, London – Gower Street
Sam Kunkel (Volupté Reviews Editor) and Jessica Gossling (BADS Treasurer and Volupté Deputy Editor) are delighted to invite you to the launch of The Decadent Bestiary, their new collection of decadent animal poems and prose. Sam and Jess will be in conversation with Dr Frankie Dytor, discussing the book, answering questions, and, of course, signing copies.
The book is published by esteemed, cult publishing house Strange Attractor, who describe the work as opening ‘a new chapter in the complex story of our relationship with the natural world, showcasing the beasts of beauty and burden that recur in decadent and symbolist writing.’
From the Golden Fly to the Wounded Lion, over 40 animal tales of decadence, mystery, and the uncanny.
An original, sumptuously illustrated collection of fin-de siècle animal stories and poems, selected, translated, and introduced by Sam Kunkel and Jessica Gossling. Bringing together works by forty writers including Michael Field, Remy de Gourmont, Lafcadio Hearn, J.-K. Huysmans, Rachilde, and Eric Count Stenbock, this timely anthology explores the inexorable connection between human and animal, from the lion to the ant.
The collection includes tales both familiar and largely unknown, some of them translated into English for the first time. The Decadent Bestiary opens a new chapter in the complex story of our relationship with the natural world, showcasing the beasts of beauty and burden that recur in decadent and symbolist writing.
Featuring stories and poems from:
Victor Hugo, Renée Vivien, Aleister Crowley, Iwan Gilkin, Guy de Maupassant, H. P. Lovecraft, Charles Baudelaire, Stanislas de Guaïta, Saki, Hector Chainaye, Jules Renard, Olive Custance, Gustave Kahn, Maurice Maeterlinck, William Sharp, Oscar Wilde, Catulle Mendès, D. G. Rossetti, Max Beerbohm, Eric Stenbock, Rosamund Marriott Watson, Remy de Gourmont, Villiers de l’Isle-Adam, Stéphane Mallarmé, W. B. Yeats, Joris-Karl Huysmans, Jules Laforgue, John Todhunter, Michael Field, Eugene Lee-Hamilton, Rachilde, Jules Renard, E. F. Benson, Emily Pfeiffer, Olive Schreiner, Algernon Blackwood, John Byrne Leicester Warren, Marcel Schwob, Lafcadio Hearn, Léon Bloy.
Volupté, INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF DECADENCE STUDIES is one of DECADOCS’ Associated Partners.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the EC. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
DECADOCS 