Mathilde-Marie-Georgina-Elisabeth de Peyrebrune (1841-1917), who wrote under the pseudonym of Georges de Peyrebrune, originally published A Decadent Woman in 1886, in two parts in the Revue Bleue. The novella, appearing here for the first time in English, in a translation by Brian Stableford, along with three supplementary tales, is one of Peyrebrune’s most flamboyant works, presenting a caricature of a high-profile variety of radical feminism, which is demolished by the narrative in such an excessive fashion that it was evidently written tongue-in-cheek, although it is probable that some readers were oblivious to its sarcastic humor.

The three addition tales, The Fays, a perverse parody of a fairy tale, The Red Bird, a symbolist account of exotic madness, and Salome a spectacular landmark of decadent fantasy, are wonderful examples of Peyrebrune’s work when she chose to venture into the avant garde herself.