Decadence: A Very Short Introduction

Very Short Introductions #567

by David Weir

The history of decadent culture runs from ancient Rome to nineteenth-century Paris, Victorian London, fin de si?cle Vienna, Weimar Berlin, and beyond. The decline of Rome provides the pattern for both aesthetic and social decadence, a pattern that artists and writers in the nineteenth century imitated, emulated, parodied, and otherwise manipulated for aesthetic gain. What begins as the moral condemnation of modernity in mid-nineteenth century France on the part of decadent authors such as Charles Baudelaire ends up as the perverse celebration of the pessimism that accompanies imperial decline. This delight in decline informs the rich canon of decadence that runs from Joris-Karl Huysmans's ? Rebours to Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, Aubrey Beardsley's drawings, Gustav Klimt's paintings, and numerous other works. In this Very Short Introduction, David Weir explores the conflicting attitudes towards modernity present in decadent culture by examining the difference between aesthetic decadence--the excess of artifice--and social decadence, which involves excess in a variety of forms, whether perversely pleasurable or gratuitously cruel. Such contrariness between aesthetic and social decadence led some of its practitioners to substitute art for life and to stress the importance of taste over morality, a maneuver with far-reaching consequences, especially as decadence enters the realm of popular culture today.ABOUT THE The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Genres: History, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Sociology, Art, Criticism, Audiobook

154 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 9, 2018

About the author

David Weir received his Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from New York University. He is the author of Decadence and the Making of Modernism (University of Massachusetts Press, 1995), James Joyce and the Art of Mediation (University of Michigan Press, 1996), Anarchy and Culture: The Aesthetic Politics of Modernism (University of Massachusetts Press, 1997), Brahma in the West: William Blake and the Oriental Renaissance (State University of New York Press, 2003), Decadent Culture in the United States: Art and Literature against the American Grain, 1890-1926, and American Orient: Imagining the East from the Colonial Era through the Twentieth Century (University of Massachusetts Press, 2011).

Reviews

[Marie-Therese · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thorough, well-organized, and well-written with some choice excerpts from classic texts and art; you can't really ask for more with a "very short introduction". Recommended to anyone interested in Decadent literature and art.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book primarily for literary recommendations and emerged this list:

Mademoiselle de Maupin (1835) Théophile Gautier
Salammbo (1862) Gustave Flaubert
Les Fleurs du mal (1868) Charles Baudelaire
Studies in the History of the Renaissance (1873) Walter Pater
Against Nature (1884) Joris-Karl Huysmans
Monsieur Vénus (1884) Marguerite Eymery Vallette
Marius the Epicurean (1885) Walter Pater
Confessions of a Young Man (1888) George Moore
The Damned (1891) Joris-Karl Huysmans
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891) Oscar Wilde
Degeneration (1892) by Max Nordau
Salome (1893) Oscar Wilde
The Symbolist Movement in Art and Literature (1899) Arthur Symons
Decline of the West (1918) Oswald Spengler
Fraülein Else (1924) Arthur Schnitzler
Nightwood (1937) Djuna Barnes
The Berlin Stories (1945) Christopher Isherwood
Submission (2015) Michel Houellebecq

I do wish however, that the author went into equal exploration of German/Austrian decadent literature as he did with the French and British.

One British decadent author, Weir mentioned was George Moore whose character in Confessions of a Young Man said, "I am feminine, morbid, perverse. But above all perverse, almost everything perverse interests, fascinates me". To learn that Moore adored Huysmans' writing is an added bonus.

[Michael Huang · Rating 3 out of 5]

One day, I had to explain to my friend why I have a case containing 12 expensive fountain pens prominently displayed on my bookshelf. I said everybody has his own — after searching for the word for a while — decadence. Why did I use that word? There is a little personal history if I may digress.

Once, I used my little slush fund to purchase a $200 pen (not the most expensive in the case), and it must have created a minor scandal among the staff in the department. One of them asked me (in full earnestness) “can you tell if a pen is worth $200”? Taken aback, I said, honestly, “unfortunately, yes”. You see, I got attacked in my household for paying hundreds of dollars for a (beautiful and brilliantly engineered piston-filler) fountain pen. Never mind the (female) attackers themselves could spend that amount in a single trip to a beauty salon (or whatever those robbers call their establishments). I’m joking, of course; those “robbers” are nice people. But needless to say, I felt judged. Decadence is clearly a word forced into my subconsciousness by the mainstream oppressors. And what is decadence anyways? That brought me to this VSI.

There are 3 types of decadence: historical decline (e.g., Roman Empire), social decay (e.g., pederasty), and esthetic inferiority (e.g., art you don’t understand). There are a lot of details about the various examples of decadence (think Nero’s various acts) and the peak manifestations (e.g., in Vienna and Berlin during the transition from the late 19th to early 20th century) in this little VSI. After all, it is said that “the rise of decadence studies owes much to” Weir (the author of this VSI). But the way I see it, decadence is merely a label from those who use old lenses to see the ever-changing new world. In the “good old days”, empires needed to expand their territory. Emperors needed to fight. When they decided fighting was no longer needed and turned to performing arts, it’s decadence (granted, Nero probably should have chosen a different profession). When art finished its historical role in glorifying the divine and decorating for the rich and started a new trial of “art for art’s sake”, decadence is a ready label thrown at it.

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delicious little book, though only the purple edition will do.

[Sandi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the Very Short Introduction series for its condensation of major concepts within historical and critical movements. Sure, as “very short” there’s no space to get into the complexities and arguments that make a subject really interesting. But, a well-done book like this should capture the major figures, vocabulary, works, historical forces, context, and legacy of a movement across genres—and do it as clearly as possible to a wide academic audience without being either reductive or boring.

That’s tough. It’s my opinion that being clear in academic writing is far more difficult than being obscure, and not all books in the Very Short series pulls this off. But David Weir constructed a very measured, well-organized primer in his Very Short Introduction to Decadence.

After an introduction (to this introduction, lol), chapters were organized around places: Rome, Paris, London, and Vienna/Berlin. These also corresponds with different time periods as Weir’s approach was to see the decadent movements as a response to political, artistic, and urban conditions. I thought this was a fairly sound approach, though perhaps it was a bit of an odd fit for Rome, since the chapter was at least as much about the influence of the Roman decadence throughout other periods as it was about the artistic production surrounding the actual fall of the Roman empire. This makes a ton of sense—the fall of Rome was a touchstone for later decadents: Huysmans, Pater, Flaubert, Symonds, Verlaine…but it made for a somewhat un-parallel structure. That’s just me being a stickler, though, and I’m not sure there was actually a better way to do it.

Each chapter did a fantastic job of briefly introducing the social conditions that affected the emergence of decadence and then moved quickly to notable examples in art and literature. These examples were not delivered merely in list form but were used to exemplify certain styles or claims within this particular iteration of decadence. For example, the chapter on Rome examines the representations of the emperor Elagabus, a real Nero-type who—among other things—drowned his party guests in rose petals. Weir very briefly covers the actual history and then moves to Wilde’s references to a bust of the Emperor as being representative of a type of Oxford student and a painting that similarly represents the court of the Emperor with Victorian faces to show how a seemingly very-removed Victorian period could find identifiable parallels with Roman decadence. These summary passages made for a good way to generate a reading list, and now I have to remember to read: The Satyricon, more Baudelaire, more Gautier, more Symonds, Rachilde, and Dowson.

Though Weir roots his definition of decadence in history, he is sensitive to matters of style. Like romanticism or Gothicism, there are stylistic features but none by itself is enough to say “that’s decadence.” For my own reference, here’s a crude little list of features:

*Themes of decay, fall, decline, corruption, rot
*Breaks from Romantic ideal of nature as good/ideal, and often favors artificiality
*Rejection of modernism and urban improvements
*Ornamental, overwrought style with an emphasis on “technical trifles” (technopaegnion)
*Style over substance/art without a purpose outside itself (art for art’s sake)
*Rejection of aesthetic emphasis on unity (which was a big thing in Romanticism), preferring beautiful fragments
*Emphasis on sensory, material, and momentary pleasures
*Characters that suffer from ennui, alcoholism/drug use, destructive or “perverse” habits often without taking great pleasure in them
*Sexual “deviance” (as judged within its historical context) such as homosexuality
*Falls outside of aesthetic norms
*Falls outside of ethical norms
*Flâneur, Dandy
*Symbols of wealth, “high” art styles, aristocracy, leisure

Weir covers all of these features, more or less, throughout the chapters in no particular order, addressing them as they come up. I myself prefer a more methodical approach to style, but this is the purview of other studies, and wouldn’t have fit well here as each period has different judgments of what counts as “ornamental.” Something to explore later.

One thing that surprised me (in a good way) was Weir’s treatment of Christianity as decadent. I never thought of the decadents’ embrace of Christianity as amounting to more than an attraction to wealth and high social class as well as perhaps the ornamental and highly-ritualized style of services. I suppose I also imagined that the perversity of seeing holy objects for their objecthood and ornamental value rather than their spiritual importance also played a role. For instance, Dorian Gray collects ecclesiastical vestments as art objects and takes a perverse pleasure in Catholic rituals of kneeling on “cold marble” that is entirely material rather than spiritual. However, Weir’s treatment added depth to my understanding, noting that the incursion of Christianity correlated with the fall of Rome, but also that the theology of Christianity “obviates a need for present action.” This is because the promise of heaven depends upon belief rather than action—a philosophy that seems to encourage a very decadent attitude of indolence.

So, this was a really useful book, approachable for an undergraduate audience, but useful to a scholar (like me) who wants to broaden their horizons beyond a certain author/genre/period to see a fuller picture of decadence before diving back in. I didn’t agree with all of Weir’s points, at times he seems to sidestep the more complex issue of decadent women and I have some very slight interpretive disagreements on Dorian Gray, but I appreciated Weir’s clarity and broadness. Overall, a very “worth-it” read.

[David Willey · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent introduction, one that raises important questions on the relationship between cultural and social forms of decadence, decadence as an artistic style and as a way of life. I wish Weir had drawn these threads together more decisively either in the introduction or the conclusion; however, this book provides an instructive diving-off point for study of Decadence both as a time period and, perhaps as importantly, as an approach to modernity

[erris · Rating 5 out of 5]

so good, really interesting. decadence was so gay tbh was my main takeaway

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve had Decadence, a Very Short Introduction on my TBR for a little while now, but what prompted me to pick it up now was a review of Inappropriation by Lexi Freiman at Theresa Smith Writes. By the sound of it, Inappropriation luxuriates in decadence, and that triggered thoughts about decadent books in general – some that I’ve liked and others that I’ve disliked, such as a recent book that I abandoned at page 6 because of its disgusting content. (And I’m no prude. This was beyond revolting.) But it seems from David Weir’s entertaining VSI that decadence is not so much a quality that can be bandied about in respect of book content as a literary movement.
This is the blurb for this latest addition to the VSI series:

"The history of decadent culture runs from ancient Rome to nineteenth-century Paris, Victorian London, fin de siecle Vienna, Weimar Berlin, and beyond. The decline of Rome provides the pattern for both aesthetic and social decadence, a pattern that artists and writers in the nineteenth century imitated, emulated, parodied, and otherwise manipulated for aesthetic gain. What begins as the moral condemnation of modernity in mid-nineteenth century France on the part of decadent authors such as Charles Baudelaire ends up as the perverse celebration of the pessimism that accompanies imperial decline. This delight in decline informs the rich canon of decadence that runs from Joris-Karl Huysmans’s A Rebours to Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, Aubrey Beardsley’s drawings, Gustav Klimt’s paintings, and numerous other works.

In this Very Short Introduction, David Weir explores the conflicting attitudes towards modernity present in decadent culture by examining the difference between aesthetic decadence–the excess of artifice–and social decadence, which involves excess in a variety of forms, whether perversely pleasurable or gratuitously cruel. Such contrariness between aesthetic and social decadence led some of its practitioners to substitute art for life and to stress the importance of taste over morality, a manoeuvre with far-reaching consequences, especially as decadence enters the realm of popular culture today."

The VSI begins with an Introduction, followed by four chapters:
Rome: classical decadence
Paris: cultural decadence
London: social decadence
Vienna and Berlin: sociocultural decadence
Then there is an Afterword called ‘Legacies of decadence’, some references and suggestions for further reading.
Weir describes what we associate with decadence: historical decline, social decay (political corruption and excessive hedonism) and aesthetic inferiority. We know about the social decay of ancient Rome – the decadence of Caligula and Nero et al – from the biographies in Suetonius’ Lives of the Caesars and from Tacitus, an historian. But he points out that despite the fall of Rome and its undisputed decadence, many aspects of Roman culture and ingenuity persist: the Latin language lives on in the Romance languages, and our system of laws and of representative government is modelled on the Roman Republic. Rome aided the spread of Christianity after the conversion of the Emperor Constantine in the 4th century, and Roman architecture and engineering have had a lasting influence to this day.

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2018/08/10/d...

[Jake Whitehouse · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was quite frustrating. In the introduction, after explaining the etymology of the word decadence, we didn't get a real definition. We then get a poem - in French - which he doesn't fully translate.

He noted that the word came from latin, and that Rome was decadent. But this just aggravated me further. He seemed to take Rome as decadent as fact - without real explanation of why that is. He considered Nero and Caligula as signs of wider decay and degeneration. But, these were before the empire's golden age, the 5 good emperors. Was this also decline. Does a philospher emperor Marcus Aurelius show a sign of improvement for wider society? He speaks of further decadence in the age of Constantine in a way suggests it was all downhill, but doesnt cross this issue. He talks about corruption not a cause (via Montesequ) and rehashes Gibbon's points on decadence with the church, which I strongly disagree with.

Decadence is always a shadow shrouded in fog in your peripheral vision; never properly defined or nailed down. It's effiminate yet brutish, violent and cruel; decadence is in progress, except for when its in stagnation. It is excessive and perverse sex, but also impotence. Homosexuality is decadent, but in the 19th century AD England, not 3rd century BC Greece. He speaks of Oscar Wilde's 'decadent' hairstyle based on the Roman's and notes the decadent homosexuality of this time as seen by the Victorian's but notes this classical age often seen as the peak, and the behaviour seen as positive then. Decadent Berlin strayed from the church and religion, yet in decadent Rome, it was the cities that saw the rise of Christianity, with the conversion of the rural areas often much later.


There are threads that are helpful, the best to a golden thread is private excess, but this certainly doesn't encapture all that is described as decadent. Certainly it doesn't capture fully decadent literature: literature excess of technique (at the expense of content). He then has the gaul to say female corruption is in the eye of the beholder; I believe this is what decadent is, though if the author agrees I am not sure.

[Hank Hoeft · Rating 3 out of 5]

The effectiveness of the presentation of information in the Very Short Introduction series of books divides into three categories. Best are those VSI’s written like primers, that present basic information on the topic in a clear and concise manner. These are like concentrated (Fill in the Topic) for Dummies books. Next, there are those VSI’s which touch lightly on various aspects of the book’s topic, but presume the reader already possesses a certain amount of knowledge of the subject. Then there are a few volumes that go off the rails completely and don’t seem to address the topic in a comprehensive or comprehensible way at all.

Decadence: A Very Short Introduction falls, in my opinion, somewhere between the first two categories. Author David Weir does a decent job defining “decadence,” and then illustrates with five examples: ancient Rome, Paris in the 19th century, London at the junction between the 19th and 20th centuries, Vienna before the First World War, and Berlin during the 1920's. He also gives many examples of works of art—literature (poetry, drama, and novels), paintings, sculpture and architecture, and the performing arts—and cultural mores and behaviors that illustrate decadence in the world. My only problem with the discussion is the plethora of writers and artists, auteurs and influencers mentioned. I had difficulty keeping all those names and people straight, as well as some of the artistic and sociological concepts thrown into the discussion, and felt like I was a little in over my head. I would have appreciated just a bit more explanation, as a general ignorance of the topic is why I was reading this volume in the first place.

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid text... Weir manages to identify several broad themes that constitute "decadence," and he leads the reader pretty effectively through the major historical incarnations of decadence: from Rome to Paris to London and finally Vienna and Berlin. In each era, he cites and examines several works that embody decadent tendencies, and for the most part he manages to spend the right amount of time on each. Decadence is a fascinating topic, and it's rendered accessible in this short book.

[Helfren · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was finding new books to read and suddenly, I found this book decadence. What's its all about? Curiousity got to me and the decadence is related to the Roman Empire fall.

If you do not stab someone, it's not because we are good, it's because we are timid, we do no yet act to our devious desire. What? The most insane quote I ever heard.

[Desollado · Rating 4 out of 5]

although is not the best of the collection, as an artist this book drove me to question some of my education, as most of basic art history subjects seem to skip this concept, maybe because it breaks somehow the well understood timeline of romanticism-realism-impresionism-avantgarde.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clear, useful, understandable introduction to the decadent movements in literature and the arts in France, Britain, Germany, and Austria in the late nineteenth century.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clever ideas - presented in a sequential way, which was an interesting approach. Suffered from talking about art a lot in a non-art book. Insightful in a lot of places.

[Rasmus Tillander · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kaunis johdatus dekadenttiin taiteellisena ideaalina/liikkeenä. Erityisesti maantieteellinen kehitys (Pariisi/Lontoo/Wien/Berliini) oli kiinnostava. Tästä on hyvä jatkaa rappioon tutustumista.

[Jay Rothermel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Weir gives the reader a well-organized tour of several world capitals of decadence in the 19th and 20th century: Paris, London, Viena, Berlin.

Solid bibliography

[Taylor Swift Scholar · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was fine. Weir provides an overview of different ages of decadence, including Rome, Vienna, Paris and London. I didn't hate it but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it.

[Jacob P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely fascinating subject matter. Very well written and organized.

[Donald Schopflocher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Historical decline, social decay, personal ennui and depravity: do they always occur together? Are they accompanied by creative and artistic exhaustion? Highlighting the Roman Empire, Paris in the mid 18th century, London at the end of the Victorian era, fin-de-siecle Vienna, and Berlin in the Weimar era, the characteristics of decadence are explored. Is the concept relevant to today? It’s a question unanswered here.

[Jerry Richardson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Decadence: An aesthetic response to Modernity

This book is an excellent introduction to Decadence for our time. It's a historical treatment of the subject, but the author shows that it's a legitimate response and reaction to modernism and, it seems to me, postmodernism. This book presents a moral case for Decadence with reference to History, Literature, and Philosophy.

[Kholan ᎪᎳᏄ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great introduction to the Decadent movement.
Though a "very short introduction," This text is not for those wanting a simple explanation to the complex and mutable subgenre. There are many name drops. This text is more a survey of scholarship than a history of literature textbook. Even the more well-read in le fin du Síecle arts is liable to find names that they have not heard before, In no small part due to the diversity of mediums discussed. This is both a blessing and a curse, as has the peculiar effect that great scholarship often has: leaving the reader with more questions than answers.
Furthermore, although this work is intrinsically tied to the dawn of Queer History, using this precise terminology, and the gay '90s, This introduction does not include scholarly queering in the scope of its contents. This text can use to great effect as a lateral artifact for the affirmation work.

[Ricardo · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5