Includes bibliographical references (pages 269-274) and index.
Summary:
The last years of the 19th century saw the triumph of the Republic. A new era begins. In Paris, the universal exhibitions of 1889 and 1900 show the extent of the technical and industrial progress of the country. But the victory of the Republicans and the apotheosis of a new civilization, urban, technical, materialistic, give rise to a deep feeling of decadence. The word runs like a wildfire, repeated by the intellectuals and taken up in the speeches of the first singers of nationalism. Hugo is dead. Barres was born. Writers, publicists, journalists compete pessimism on modern times impoverished by de-Christianization and haunted by the revolutionary threat in these years of social misery. We denounce the progress of democratic society, which naturalism in novels has depicted in all its abjection. Resurgence then the taste for the morbid, the occult sciences, the eroticism, the satanism ... Here comes the time of the imprecators who hate the century and announce the end of time. Decadence! This word is in fact associated with the secular, theological conviction of the great broomstick that will throw the world into an apocalyptic abyss, from which we hope to see the regeneration of humanity come out. In this arboreal work, Michel Winock explores the fears, the anxieties, the discouragements which, under the sign of decadence, are also proving the fruitful source of a literary and artistic renewal, illustrated by great authors, Barbey d'Aurevilly, Huysmans, Leon Bloy, Octave Mirbeau, Mallarmé, Georges Darien, Pierre Louÿs ... Decadence is as much a state of mind and a disposition of the soul as an aesthetic.--Translation of back cover by Gallimard. "Dans cet ouvrage arborescent, Michel Winock explore les peurs, les angoisses, les découragements qui, sous le signe de la décadence, se révèlent également la source féconde d'un renouvellement littéraire et artistique, illustré par de grands auteurs, Barbey d'Aurevilly, Huysmans, Léon Bloy, Octave Mirbeau, Mallarmé, Georges Darien, Pierre Louÿs...[In this arborescent work, Michel Winock explores the fears, anxieties and discouragement which, under the sign of decadence, also prove to be the fruitful source of a literary and artistic renewal, illustrated by great authors, Barbey d'Aurevilly, Huysmans, Leon Bloy, Octave Mirbeau, Mallarme, Georges Darien, Pierre Louÿs ..."--Back cover.
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