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decadence| In literary and artistic criticism, the decline that follows a time of great cultural achievement. It is typified by world-weariness, self-consciousness, and the search for new stimulation through artistic refinement and degenerate behaviour. The term is used especially in connection with the fin-de-siècle styles of the late 19th century (Symbolism, the Aesthetic Movement, and art nouveau). It has been applied to such artists and writers as Arthur Rimbaud, Oscar Wilde, and Aubrey Beardsley. |
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| ? Mentioned in | | ? References in classic literature |
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Barnes, Djuna Chappell
Baudelaire, Charles Pierre
Couto, Diogo do
Couture, Thomas
Deledda, Grazia
dolce vita, La
Hlavácek, Karel
Huysmans, J K
Karásek ze Lvovic, Jiri
Klimt, Gustav
| Krasko, Ivan
Montesquieu, Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de la Brède
Moreau, Gustave
Móricz, Zsigmond
Munch, Edvard
Nose, The
Paglia, Camille
Pasolini, Pier Paolo
Rops, Félicien
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| He thought the city of the ancient Romans a little vulgar, finding distinction only in the decadence of the Empire; but the Rome of the Popes appealed to his sympathy, and in his chosen words, quite exquisitely, there appeared a rococo beauty. It may be that in the larger design of the universe this invasion from Mars is not without its ultimate benefit for men; it has robbed us of that serene confidence in the future which is the most fruitful source of decadence, the gifts to human science it has brought are enormous, and it has done much to promote the conception of the commonweal of mankind. When the decadence attacks a nature naturally proud and selfish and vain, and lacking both the aptitude and habit of self-restraint, the development of the disease is more swift, and ranges to farther limits. |