<p>Ren&eacute;e Vivien and her lover H&eacute;l&egrave;ne de Zuylen de Nyevelt collaborated on two volumes of short prose, <em>Copeaux </em>and <em>Netsuk&eacute;</em>, which, translated for the first time into English by Brian Stableford, are here brought together in a single volume.</p><p>Filled with extravagant exercises in symbolism and bitter-sweet narratives that often hinge on problematic confrontations between two female characters, which are simultaneously affectionate and adversarial, these tales of fantasy and Orientalia illustrate the magnitude of Ren&eacute;e Vivien&rsquo;s literary achievement and the uncommonly broad spectrum of her interests.</p><p><em>Faustina and Other Stories</em> represents a uniquely acute facet of the Decadent polyhedron.</p>