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.
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