The Princess of the Sun
and Other Decadent Stories
Edgar Saltus
Edited and with and Introduction by Daniel Corrick
Edgar Saltus was one of the great decadent writers of the United States-possibly the greatest. Set amidst glamourous Gilded Age New York, his fiction tells of the secret cruelties and obsessions eating away at the souls of socialites, businessmen and artists alike, as increasing wealth and opulence only drive them further from reality in their quest for stimulation. Inspired by eastern mysticism and the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer, Saltus makes mock of the human tendency to interpret the world according to our desires, and the great disillusionment which often follows when this perception conflicts with reality.
The Princess of the Sun and Other Decadent Stories collects together a selection of Edgar Saltus’ s brilliant tales from newspapers, books and unpublished manuscripts; alternating between Poesque mysteries, sardonic society romances, and tales of decay and delirium, these pieces show their author as a masterful practitioner of the conte cruel, executed in an epigrammatic style so refined that one critic even asserted that “style is a synonym for Saltus.”
Content:
· The Princess of the Sun
· The Business Man
· Loveland
· The Plot
· The Beloved
· The Ghost Story
· Drama in the Dining Room
· Once is Enough
· Alma Adorata
· The Nameless Shame
· The Silverstairs
About the Author
Edgar Saltus (1855-1921) was a novelist and short story writer whose fiction explored the decadence and cruelty lying behind the opulence of the American Gilded Age. His urbane, epigrammatic style earned him the admiration of major fin de siècle figures, including Oscar Wilde and Edward Heron-Allen. His major works were Mr. Incoul’s Misadventure (1887), a novel credited with introducing the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer to American audiences, and Imperial Purple (1892), a history of the Roman Emperors in prose poetry. He alswo wrote numerous contes cruels for magazines and newspapers.
About the Editor
Daniel Corrick is an editor and literary historian with a specialist interest in nineteenth-century literature, especially the evolution of Gothicism and the Decadent movement. He has worked on a number of volumes including the collected fiction of Montague Summers, and unpublished works of Edgar Saltus and Edward Heron-Allen. In addition, he has edited several anthologies, including Sorcery and Sanctity: A Homage to Arthur Machen (Hieroglyphic Press, 2013), and Drowning in Beauty: The Neo-Decadent Anthology (Snuggly Books, 2018).
Paperback, 178 pages. Release Date: July 5, 2022
ISBN-13: 978-1-64525-099-9
Price: US$17.00