A Baedeker of Decadence: Charting a Literary Fashion, 1884–1927

Description

During the final decades of the nineteenth century, a common mind-set emerged among many intellectuals—“la décadence.” Many novels and novellas of the period were populated with protagonists who were fragile, refined, self-absorbed, and preoccupied with a trivially exquisite aesthetic. A Baedeker of Decadence presents thirty-two international works of literary decadence written between 1884 and 1927. George C. Schoolfield, a world authority on the decadent novel, offers an entertaining and wide-ranging commentary on this highly significant literary and cultural phenomenon. Schoolfield tracks down the symptoms of decadence in narrative works written in more than a dozen languages, providing synopses and passages in English translation to give a sense of each author’s style and tone. Schoolfield throws new light on the close intellectual kinship of authors from August Strindberg to Bram Stoker to Thomas Mann, and on the ingredients, themes, motifs, and preconceptions that characterized decadent literature. Contents Baedekers Preface 1. France: Joris-Karl Huysmans 2. Ireland: George Moore 3. Italy: Gabriele D’Annunzio 4. Sweden: August Strindberg 5. England: Oscar Wilde 6. Holland: Louis Couperus 7. Norway: Arne Garborg 8. Belgium: Georges Rodenbach 9. Poland/Prussia: Stanislaw Przybyszewski 10. Finland: Karl August Tavaststjerna 11. Ireland: Edith Oenone Somerville and Violet Martin Ross 12. Austria: Leopold von Andrian, Rainer Maria Rilke 13. Poland/Prussia: Stanislaw Przybyszewski 14. Wales: Arthur Machen 15. England: Bram Stoker 16. Portugal: José Maria Eça de Queirós 17. Spain: Ramón María del Valle-Inclán 18. Germany: Thomas Mann 19. Sweden: Oscar Levertin, Gustaf af Geijerstam, Hjalmar Söderberg, Kjell Strömberg 20. Denmark: Herman Bang 21. Australia: Henry Handel Richardson 22. The United States: James Gibbons Huneker 23. Iceland: Halldór Kiljan Laxness Bibliography Index