Introduction

This Introduction explains how the volume emerged from a conference at the University of St Andrews in 2022. Rewriting Gender in an Age of Transition is a collection of essays on gender and queer studies across the fin-de-siècle and beginning of the twentieth century. Where existing scholarship often divides the years between 1880 and 1940 into two distinct categories, this volume proposes that studies of the nineteenth and early twentieth century will benefit from framing this period as one of transition in cultural attitudes towards gender and sexuality alongside political, economic, technological and cultural revolutions. This introduction highlights the interdisciplinary nature of the volume, embracing image and material culture. García-Walsh and Thompson lay out the structure and purpose of the volume, with its chapters divided into two overarching sections, titled ‘Identity in Transition’ and ‘Symbols of Self-Fashioning’. The former engages with changes in the conceptual understanding of gender and sexuality as internal, while the latter considers self-fashioning as a compromise between presentation and interpretation. The Introduction thus expresses the volume's purpose in showcasing a pivotal era rife with anxieties about gender and identity, a dynamic that still resonates with current debates.