- Review of Kostas Boyiopoulos, The Decadent Image: The Poetry of Wilde, Symons and Dowson, Edinburgh Critical Studies in Victorian Culture (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2015), pp. xii + 219. ISBN 9780748690923. Condé, Alice . 2016. Review of Kostas Boyiopoulos, The Decadent Image: The Poetry of Wilde, Symons and Dowson, Edinburgh Critical Studies in Victorian Culture (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2015), pp. xii + 219. ISBN 9780748690923. The Oscholars,
Dr Alice Condé
Staff details
Goldsmiths Research Centres/Groups
Alice’s research explores decadence from the nineteenth century to the present day.
Alice Condé is Lecturer in the Department of English and Creative Writing. Her research is primarily focused on decadence as a critical concept at the fin de siècle and today. She is interested in masochistic men and cruel women in nineteenth-century decadent fictions, and in our understanding of decadence in contemporary subculture with reference to queerness, drag, and social decline. She is co-editor of Decadence and the Senses (with Jane Desmarais, 2017) and In Cynara’s Shadow: Collected Essays on Ernest Dowson (with Jessica Gossling, 2019). Her essay on ‘Decadence and Popular Culture’ can be found in Jane Desmarais and David Weir’s Decadence and Literature (2019) and 'Contemporary Contexts: Decadence Today and Tomorrow' in Jane Desmarais and David Weir’s Oxford Handbook of Decadence (2020).
Academic qualifications
- PhD, ‘Writing Masochism and the Cruel Woman in English Decadence, 1860-1900’, Goldsmiths, University of London, 2014
- MA, English Literature 1850 – the Present, King’s College London, 2009
- BA (Hons), English, Goldsmiths, University of London, 2008
Teaching and supervision
- Decadence
- European Decadence and the Visual Arts
- Ideas in Practice
- The Long Nineteenth Century
- Explorations in Literature
- Genre
Featured publications
Publications and research outputs
Edited Book
- In Cynara's Shadow: Collected Essays on Ernest Dowson Condé, Alice ; and Gossling, Jessica , eds. 2019. In Cynara's Shadow: Collected Essays on Ernest Dowson. Oxford: Peter Lang. ISBN 9781787076266
- Decadence and the Senses Desmarais, Jane H. ; and Condé, Alice , eds. 2017. Decadence and the Senses. Oxford: Legenda. ISBN 978-1-78188-481-2
Edited Journal
- Decadence, Magic(k), and the Occult Gossling, Jessica ; and Condé, Alice , eds. 2018. Decadence, Magic(k), and the Occult, Volupté: Interdisciplinary Journal of Decadence Studies, 1(2).
Book Section
- Neo-Victorian Decadence in the 1920s: The case of Ben Hecht Condé, Alice . 2025. Neo-Victorian Decadence in the 1920s: The case of Ben Hecht. In: Kostas Boyiopoulos and Joseph Thorne, eds. Neo-Victorian Decadence. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 9789004747302
- Walt Ruding, An Evil Motherhood (1895) Condé, Alice . 2025. Walt Ruding, An Evil Motherhood (1895). In: Simon Alexander Reynolds, ed. Salome's Bookshelf: Artists and Writers of the 1890s. London: Greenwich Exchange. ISBN 9781910996744
- Aestheticism and Decadence Gossling, Jessica ; and Condé, Alice . 2023. Aestheticism and Decadence. In: Isobel Hurst and Gill Gregory, eds. UoLW Undergraduate Study in English: Victorians. London: University of London, pp. 65-67.
Article
- Review of Decadence: A Literary History. Ed. Alex Murray. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020. 415 pp. £84.99. Condé, Alice . 2022. Review of Decadence: A Literary History. Ed. Alex Murray. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020. 415 pp. £84.99. Studies in Walter Pater and Aestheticism, 6, pp. 148-151. ISSN 2445-5962
- Beyond the Supernatural: Decadent Pedagogy and The Picture of Dorian Gray Condé, Alice ; and Gossling, Jessica . 2021. Beyond the Supernatural: Decadent Pedagogy and The Picture of Dorian Gray. International Council of Teachers of English Newsletter(4), pp. 22-24.
- The Devil in the Detail: An Introduction to Decadent Occultism from the Editors Condé, Alice ; and Gossling, Jessica . 2018. The Devil in the Detail: An Introduction to Decadent Occultism from the Editors. Volupté: Interdisciplinary Journal of Decadence Studies, 1(2), i-ix.
Conference or Workshop Item
- Decadent Times: Drift, Drag, and Deliquescence Gossling, Jessica ; and Condé, Alice . 2025. 'Decadent Times: Drift, Drag, and Deliquescence'. In: INCS Interdisciplinary Nineteenth-Century Studies Annual Conference. Speed and Acceleration. Università di Genova, Italy 18-20 June 2025.
- The afterlife of the Decadent femme fatale: Phantasmal delusion in Ben Hecht’s Fantazius Mallare (1922) Condé, Alice . 2017. 'The afterlife of the Decadent femme fatale: Phantasmal delusion in Ben Hecht’s Fantazius Mallare (1922)'. In: Neo-Victorian Decadences. Durham University, United Kingdom 8-9 September 2017.
- "The pale roses expire": Dowson’s Decadent diminuendo Condé, Alice . 2016. '"The pale roses expire": Dowson’s Decadent diminuendo'. In: Ernest Dowson (1867-1900): Poet, translator, novelist. Goldsmiths, United Kingdom 15 April 2016.
Digital
- Contemporary Decadence: Subversion and Social Consciousness Condé, Alice . 2020. Contemporary Decadence: Subversion and Social Consciousness.
- Volupté: Interdisciplinary Journal of Decadence Studies Gossling, Jessica ; and Condé, Alice . 2018. Volupté: Interdisciplinary Journal of Decadence Studies.
Performance
- Decadence @ Iklectik Alston, Adam ; Condé, Alice ; and Prashar-Savoie, Anjali. 2022. Decadence @ Iklectik. In: "Decadence @ Iklectik", Iklectik Arts Lab, London, United Kingdom, 29 July 2022.
Thesis
- Incorporeal Punishment : Writing Masochism and the Cruel Woman in English Decadence, 1860-1900 Condé, Alice . 2015. Incorporeal Punishment : Writing Masochism and the Cruel Woman in English Decadence, 1860-1900. Doctoral thesis, Goldsmiths, University of London
Other
- Interview for Success Magazine: Maximalism Interior Design Could Be the Ticket to Joy and Agency in Unstable Times, by Sandi Schwartz Condé, Alice . 2024. Interview for Success Magazine: Maximalism Interior Design Could Be the Ticket to Joy and Agency in Unstable Times, by Sandi Schwartz. Success Magazine, Dallas, Texas.
- Interview for Eater Magazine, A Series of Extremely Scientific Theories on Why Fun Is Fun by Bettina Makalintal Condé, Alice . 2023. Interview for Eater Magazine, A Series of Extremely Scientific Theories on Why Fun Is Fun by Bettina Makalintal. Eater Magazine.
Professional projects
Alice is Co-Deputy Director of the Decadence Research Centre at Goldsmiths, Deputy Editor of Volupté: Interdisciplinary Journal of Decadence Studies, and Secretary of the British Association of Decadence Studies (BADS). She is organiser (with Jane Desmarais and Jessica Gossling) of an annual series of international conferences and events on decadence, including Aesthetic Time, Decadent Archives in July 2019 and Decadence, Magic(k), and the Occult in July 2018. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Media engagements
2023:
A Series of Extremely Scientific Theories on Why Fun Is Fun
Interview for Eater magazine
2024:
Maximalism Interior Design Could Be the Ticket to Joy and Agency in Unstable Times
Interview for Success magazine
2022: Staging Decadence
Conferences and talks
2022:
Neo-Victorian Decadence
D’Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara
2019: Aesthetic Time, Decadent Archives
2018: Decadence, Magic(k), and the Occult
2017: Arthur Symons at the Fin de Siècle
2016: Ernest Dowson (1867-1900): Poet, translator, novelist
2014: Decadence and the Senses