The meaning of decadence varies with context, depending on what (or who) is understood to have declined, decayed, or degenerated. These negative meanings are familiar from history (the decline and fall of Rome), sociology (the decay of communities), morality (the degeneration of values), and more, including such popular conceptions of decadence as excess and corruption. At the same time, all of this negative decadence has found positive cultural expression, principally in literature, through the work of such celebrated nineteenth-century decadents as Charles Baudelaire, Oscar Wilde, and many others. This volume takes the study of decadence beyond these canonical literary works to explore the phenomenon in broader historical, geographical, and cultural contexts.
In thirty-five chapters by esteemed scholars from a range of disciplines, the Oxford Handbook of Decadence addresses different critical periods, such as classical antiquity, various ages of empire, the interwar era in the twentieth century, and contemporary times, as well as key places--France, Belgium, Britain, Italy, Germany, the Nordic nations, Russia and Ukraine, the Ottoman Empire, and Japan--and such genres as the novel, the short story, drama, the essay, prose poetry, and film. The volume also considers decadence more broadly as a culture not limited to literature by tracing its manifestations in such material forms as book design, fashion, interior decoration, and architecture, as well as through the experiential register of the senses: decadent vision, sound, smell, taste, and touch are all reflected, respectively, in painting, music, perfume, cuisine, and feeling. Finally, the chapters explore the theoretical resonance of decadence in such fields as theology, science,
ecology, politics, psychoanalysis, and philosophy. By illuminating the various ways decadence can be construed, the Handbook offers an in-depth and original exploration into the paradox of decadence: a culture that draws its creative energy from the idea of decline.
Author(s): Jane Desmarais, David Weir
Series: Oxford Handbooks
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 743
City: New York
Cover
The Oxford Handbook of Decadence
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
Acknowledgments
Contributors
Introduction: Decadence, Culture, and Society
PART I. PERIODS
1. Classical Antiquity: Unlikely Decadent Prototypes in Republican Rome
2. Ages of Empire: Pinnacles of Decline
3. Fin de Siècle, Gilded Age, or Belle Époque: Different Endings to the Same Century
4. The Interwar Period: Legacies of Decadence
5. Contemporary Contexts: Decadence Today and Tomorrow
PART II. PLACES
6. France: The Rise of Modern Decadence
7. Belgium: Decadent Land, Barbarian Language
8. Britain and Ireland: Decadence beyond London
9. Italy: Decadent Dichotomies in a Disruptive Age
10. Germany: Decadence from the Wilhelmine Empire to the Weimar Republic
11. Nordic Cultures: From Wilderness to Metropolitan Decadence
12. Eastern Europe: The “New People” of Decadence
13. Turkey: Ottoman Tanzimat and the Decadence of Empire
14. Japan: Decadence and Japonisme
PART III. GENRES
15. The Decadent Novel: Generic Inversions
16. The Decadent Short Story: Forms of the Morbid
17. Decadent Theater: New Women and “The Eye of the Beholder”
18. Essays: Defending and Describing Decadence
19. Prose Poetry: All the Rest Is Literature
20. Cinema: Adapting Decadence
PART IV. MATERIALITIES
21. Book Arts: The Decadent Gesamtkunstwerk
22. Fashion: Decadent Stylings
23. Interior Decoration: Designing Decadence
24. Architecture: Constructing Decadence
PART V. SENSES
25. Vision: Decadence in Symbolist Art of the Fin de Siècle
26. Hearing: Bodies Resounding in Decadent Literature
27. Smell: Perfume and Olfaction
28. Taste: Savoring Decadence
29. Touch: Unfeeling Decadence
PART VI. THEORIES
30. Theology: Decadent Aesthetics, Anglo-Catholicism, and Ritual
31. Science: Entropy, Degeneration, and Decadent Self-Destruction
32. Ecology: The Vital Forces of Decay
33. Philosophy: Post-Kantian Narratives of Decadence
34. Psychoanalysis: From Degeneration to Regeneration
35. Politics: Ideologies of Decadence
Index
