The Literary Concept of Decadence in Fin de siècle Æstheticism

The literary concept of fin-de-siècle decadence has been defined in many ways. It has been described as involving a tainted, "gamy" or languid style. It has also been defined in terms of its basic ideological preconception-namely the view that civilization is corrupt and decaying. The French novelists, Mendès, Rachilde, Huysmans, Lorrain, Péladin, Barrès, and Mirabeau developed their inimitable method of dramatizing this corruption by concentrating on the theme of sexual sin. Some critics believe that these decadents deliberately adopted the "cult of artificiality" as a form of rebellion against the romantic idealization of nature. Still other critics view the decadents as a deeply religious group of writers who lamented the collapse of French morality symbolized by the cult of artificiality. Still another interpretation maintains that decadence represents an aesthetic search for heightened moments of sensory experience devoid of moral implication. Oscar Wilde equated decadence with realism. The literary term decadence has both good and bad connotations signifying health and disease, religion and atheism, art for art's sake, and art for realism's sake. It is a meaningless abstraction. (ARK)