In fact, Jarry's was just one of five contemporary French novels treating Messalina in a typically fin de siècle manner. They also included Prosper Castanier's "L'Orgie Romaine" (Roman Orgy, 1897), Nonce Casanova's "Messaline, roman de la Rome impériale" (Mesalina, a novel of imperial Rome, 1902) and Louis Dumont's "La Chimère, Pages de la Décadence" (The Chimaera, Decadent Pages, 1902). However, the most successful and inventive stylistically was Felicien Champsaur's novel "L'Orgie Latine" (1903) Although Messalina is referenced throughout its episodic coverage of degenerate times, she features particularly in the third section, "The Naked Empress" ("L'impératice nue"), dealing with her activities in the brothel, and the sixth, "Messalina's End", beginning with her wedding to Silius and ending with her enforced death.