The Daughters of Decadence and other writers of the Fin de Siècle, 1880–1900.

As a prelude to the MLS 140th anniversary season 2025–26, the AGM on Tuesday 6th May, will be followed by a talk from Paul Poplawski, who will be surveying the literary landscape of the end of the 19th century, when the Society was first founded.

A particular focus of the talk will be on the often-overlooked literature of the ‘New Woman’ – a term first used in 1894 by one of the leading ‘new women’ writers and early suffragist Sarah Grand.

The writings of Grand and fellow feminist writers of the period such as George Egerton, Olive Schreiner, Kate Chopin, Vernon Lee and Charlotte Perkins Gilman can be seen (in Elaine Showalter’s words) as ‘the missing links between the great women writers of the Victorian novel and the modern fiction of Mansfield, Woolf, and Stein.’

With the assistance of Pamela Gordon, Paul’s talk will include several illustrative readings from key texts.

This event is free and all are welcome. Tuesday 6th May, 7.30pm, The Ormiston Institute, Melrose.

Also check out other Arts events in Melrose, Literary Art events in Melrose.