"Grant Allen was a prolific novelist, essayist, and man of letters, who is best remembered today for his The Woman Who Did (1895), which gained fame and notoriety almost overnight through its exploration of female independence and sexuality outside marriage, precipitating rabid denunciations of the 'new woman'." "The contributors to this collection approach the figure of Allen from diverse fields within Victorian studies, showing him to be a late Victorian innovator but also an example of fin-de-siecle modernity. Grant Allen: Literature and Cultural Politics at the Fin de Siecle revisits the richly variegated profile of one of the most intriguing and significant polymaths of the turn of the century, recognizing his contribution to and influence on the key modernizing debates of the period."--Jacket.