Decadence, David Weir
Decadence, David Weir
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Decadence
A Very Short Introduction

Author: David Weir

Narrator: Graham Halstead

Unabridged: 4 hr 37 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 08/14/2018


Synopsis

The history of decadent culture runs from ancient Rome to nineteenth-century Paris, Victorian London, fin de siècle 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 À Rebours to Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray.

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.

About David Weir

David Weir is Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Goldsmiths, University of London, and Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature at Cooper Union in New York City. He has published ten books, two on film directors (Jean Vigo and Ernst Lubitsch), two on James Joyce, and several on such topics as orientalism, anarchism, and decadence, including Decadence: A Very Short Introduction. He also coedited, with Jane Desmarais, Decadence and Literature and The Oxford Handbook of Decadence.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Matthew on June 01, 2018

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 Hu......more

Goodreads review by Michael on February 23, 2025

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. Onc......more

Goodreads review by Sandi on July 16, 2018

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 majo......more

Goodreads review by David on June 17, 2024

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,......more