Faustina and Other Stories by Vivien, Renée 2024 NEUF

Renée Vivien and her lover Hélène de Zuylen de Nyevelt collaborated on two volumes of short prose, Copeaux and Netsuké, which, translated for the first time into English by Brian Stableford, are here brought together in a single volume.

Filled with extravagant exercises in symbolism and bitter-sweet narratives that often hinge on problematic confrontations between two female characters, which are simultaneously affectionate and adversarial, these tales of fantasy and Orientalia illustrate the magnitude of Renée Viviens literary achievement and the uncommonly broad spectrum of her interests.

Faustina and Other Stories represents a uniquely acute facet of the Decadent polyhedron.