We live in an age in which the affectation of authenticity is pervasive. Critics routinely mythologize fashionable diction, identity politics and urban realism as indicative of artistic honesty, while delicately morbid subject matter and archaic diction receive scorn no matter how carefully and creatively executed. Apparently, jewelry may be finely wrought but literature may not.

This group was formed by people who think otherwise. Elaborate conceits, measured rhythm, prosodic devices, polyphonic prose, historical idioms -- all are welcome here. So, too, are modern explorations of past eccentricities: the bijoux of the poet maudite, the symbolist, the decadent, the dandy and the decorously disheveled. Bring your Huysmans, De Quincey and Saintsbury; seek your sportswear, spoken word and standup somewhere outside this door.