Decadent subjects : the idea of decadence in art, literature, philosophy, and culture of the fin de siecle in Europe / Charles Bernheimer ; edited by T. Jefferson Kline and Naomi Schor.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bernheimer, Charles, 1942-

Contributor:

Kline, T. Jefferson (Thomas Jefferson), 1942-

Schor, Naomi.

Series:

Parallax (Baltimore, Md.)

Parallax

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Aesthetics, European--19th century.

Degeneration--History--19th century.

Decadence (Literary movement).

Decadence in art.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xviii, 227 pages) : illustrations

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Baltimore, Md. : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Charles Bernheimer described decadence as a "stimulant that bends thought out of shape, deforming traditional conceptual molds." In this posthumously published work, Bernheimer succeeds in making a critical concept out of this perennially fashionable, rarely understood term. Decadent Subjects is a coherent and moving picture of fin de sïcle decadence. Mature, ironic, iconoclastic, and thoughtful, this remarkable collection of essays shows the contradictions of the phenomenon, which is both a condition and a state of mind. In seeking to show why people have failed to give a satisfactory account of the term decadence, Bernheimer argues that we often mistakenly take decadence to represent something concrete, that we see as some sort of agent. His salutary response is to return to those authors and artists whose work constitutes the topos of decadence, rereading key late nineteenth-century authors such as Nietzsche, Zola, Hardy, Wilde, Moreau, and Freud to rediscover the very dynamics of the decadent. Through careful analysis of the literature, art, and music of the fin de sïcle including a riveting discussion of the many faces of Salome, Bernheimer leaves us with a fascinating and multidimensional look at decadence, all the more important as we emerge from our own fin de sïcle.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Illustrations

Editors' Preface

Introduction

Nietzsche's Decadence Philosophy

Flaubert's Salammbô: History in Decadence

Decadent Naturalism/ Naturalist Decadence

Visions of Salome

Decadent Diagnostics

Freud's Decadence

Appendix: Outline of "Freud's Decadence"

Abbreviations

Notes

Index.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

0-8018-7464-5

OCLC:

51494051