George Egerton (Mary Chavelita Dunne Bright) achieved critical success and social notoriety with
Keynotes
(1893) and
Discords
(1894), her first two collections of proto‐modernist short stories. The fictions in these volumes give powerful expression to controversies over the New Woman and the decadent movement. Egerton distinguishes herself from most other New Women writers by rejecting literary realism and embracing female sexual freedom. And while most authors associated with decadence drew inspiration from France, Egerton was influenced by the plays, novels, and poetry of Scandinavian modernists.