Susan Brantly analyses an early novel by Verner von Heidenstam, Hans Alienus (1892). This work marks what can now be identified as the decadent period of the author more generally known for his later nationally oriented novels on Swedish history. Brantly shows how the novel is clearly imbued with decadent spirit and imagery, although its author disliked the term. The narrative as such is in line with a decadent poetics and shows a lively interest in all things decadent from the fall of empires to the pleasurable tragedy of being the last of the family line, and indulges in ironic “imitations” of Dorian Gray and des Esseintes.