The Decadent 1890s

This course introduces you to major works of literature of Decadent literature and culture in the European fin de siècle, focusing on the artistic and social culture of London, Paris, Vienna, and Berlin in the 1870s-1900s. Among the topics to be studied are the interconnections between the movements of Decadence, Aestheticism and Symbolism; theories of cultural decay and degeneration; the culture wars of the 19th century; stereotypes of gender, specifically the Dandy and the New Woman; the influence of sexology (regarding homosexuality and sexual transgression); cultural and legal attitudes toward sexual "perversity" and homosexuality; the rise of Wagnerism and theories of Gesamtkunstwerk on the stage; and the period of cultural transition from Decadence to Modernism. We will read works by Mallarmé, Baudelaire, Wilde, Strindberg, Huysmans, Nordau, Nietzsche, Wedekind, Ibsen, Michael Field (Katherine Bradley and Edith Cooper) and various New Woman writers such as George Egerton, Victoria Cross, and Olive Schreiner, among others. Throughout the course, we will pay close attention to historical, social, and political contexts for the period as well. In addition to the literature of the European fin de siècle, you will also be introduced to some of the most important movements in the visual arts and design (Art Nouveau) and in the performing arts (Ballets Russes, synesthetic theater, some of the most famous music of the period).