Estonian and Finnish Decadence
Launch of Volupté 9.1
Thursday, 22 October 2026,
6.00-8.00 pm
Institute of English Studies
Senate House
Room 264
Pen-and-ink drawing by the Estonian writer Friedebert Tuglas
Join us for an evening of music and literature to celebrate the publication of Volupté: International Journal of Decadence Studies, 9.1 which is devoted to the magical and mythic realms of Estonian and Finnish decadence where we encounter dark forests and deep lakes, symbolic of the darker and deeper emotional states of isolation, ecstasy, disgust, and despair. Old worlds are ambivalently and affectively tied to accelerated states of transition and change and are succeeded by new, young Nordic nations. We explore the (Euro)peripheries of the Baltic and Nordic countries and the interconnections between fin-de-siècle culture and nationalism and between different forms of nationalism and decadent literature and art.
Programme
Solo Cello Improvisation by the artist Ramilda; panel discussion about Estonian and Finnish decadence panel with Mirjam Hinrikus, Riikka Rossi, Viola Parente-Čapková; poetry reading by Hasso Krull; and a classical saxophone performance of Jacob TV’s The Garden of Love, based on William Blake’s poem, by Uku Gross.
This event is part of the BADS Jeudis series.
Attendance is free but please register by clicking the link below.
Senate House is in Bloomsbury, central London.
Senate House
Malet Street
London
WC1E 7HU
United Kingdom
Estonian and Finnish Decadence 22 October 2026 6-8pm — BADS