Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its highest. Live in fragments no longer.

— E.M. Forster, Howards End (1910)

The International Society of Fin-de-Siècle Studies is a new network for scholars interested in the period that all too often slips between high-Victorianism and Modernism: 1880-1920. Academics writing on what Vincent Sherry has called ‘the long turn-of-the-century’ are accustomed to tailoring their ideas to fit into the dominant interests of Victorian studies or Modernist studies. However, 1880 to 1920 marks a distinct period with unique tensions and trends.

The ISFSS aims to facilitate genuinely interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary connections across this period, among scholars from around the world, ranging from undergraduates to emeritus professors. It is a bijou society with a big ambition to provide a space in which you can make new connections with scholars with similar interests, share your research, stand on a soapbox, find new resources, advertise events, and – as the Society evolves — participate in events we host.

Whether your field is English literature, American literature, European or global literatures, cultural history, medical history, military history, music, art history, theatre studies, early-film studies, fashion history, politics… or indeed any other field in the period, we would like to hear from you!

This website will develop over the next few months so please bear with us as things are added. In the meantime, please take a look at the tabs for CFPs and contact details for ways to get involved and how to get your email address added to our round-robin updates.

With best wishes,

Dr Kate Hext

University of Exeter, August 2016