Description
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.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Decadence, Culture, and SocietyDavid Weir and Jane DesmaraisPart I: Periods1. Classical Antiquity: Unlikely Decadent Prototypes in Republican RomeShushma Malik2. Ages of Empire: Pinnacles of DeclineNorman Vance3. Fin de Siècle, Gilded Age, or Belle Époque: Different Endings to the Same CenturyShearer West4. The Interwar Period: Legacies of DecadenceMelanie Hawthorne5. Contemporary Contexts: Decadence Today and TomorrowAlice CondéPart II: Places6. France: The Rise of Modern DecadenceBénédicte Coste7. Belgium: Decadent Land, Barbarian LanguageClément Dessy8. Britain and Ireland: Decadence beyond LondonAlex Murray9. Italy: Decadent Dichotomies in a Disruptive AgeLara Raffaelli10. Germany: Decadence from the Wilhelmine Empire to the Weimar RepublicKatharina Herold11. Nordic Cultures: From Wilderness to Metropolitan DecadencePirjo LyytikÄinen12. Eastern Europe: The "New People" of DecadenceSasha Dovzhyk13. Turkey: Ottoman Tanzimat and the Decadence of EmpireÖzen Nergis Dolcerocca14. Japan: Decadence and JaponismeStefano EvangelistaPart III: Genres15. The Decadent Novel: Generic InversionsKristin Mahoney16. The Decadent Short Story: Forms of the MorbidKostas Boyiopoulos17. Decadent Theater: New Women and "The Eye of the Beholder"Sos Eltis18. Essays: Defending and Describing DecadenceNick Freeman19. Prose Poetry: All the Rest Is LiteratureJane Desmarais and David Weir20. Cinema: Adapting DecadenceDavid WeirPart IV: Materialities21. Book Arts: The Decadent GesamtkunstwerkKirsten MacLeod22. Fashion: Decadent StylingsCatherine Spooner23. Interior Decoration: Designing DecadenceJessica Gossling24. Architecture: Constructing DecadenceLori SmitheyPart V: Senses25. Vision: Decadence in Symbolist Art of the Fin de SiècleVivien Greene26. Hearing: Bodies Resounding in Decadent LiteratureFraser Riddell27. Smell: Perfume and OlfactionCatherine Maxwell28. Taste: Savoring DecadenceDavid Weir and Jane Desmarais29. Touch: Unfeeling DecadenceJane DesmaraisPart VI: Theories30. Theology: Decadent Aesthetics, Anglo-Catholicism, and RitualMatthew Bradley31. Science: Entropy, Degeneration, and Decadent Self-DestructionJordan Kistler32. Ecology: The Vital Forces of DecayDennis Denisoff33. Philosophy: Post-Kantian Narratives of DecadenceAndrew Huddleston34. Psychoanalysis: From Degeneration to RegenerationJean-Michel Rabaté35. Politics: Ideologies of DecadenceNeville Morley
