In 1884, French novelist Maurice Barrès defined decadent writers and artists as those who had fallen under the influence of Baudelaire’s poetry, ‘Gothic’ fiction, and the macabre writings of Edgar Allen Poe. In the same year, Joris-Karl Huysmans published his ground-breaking novel, À Rebours (‘Against Nature’), which is widely considered the quintessential example of decadent literature. The novel tells the story of an eccentric, a reclusive aristocrat who retreats into his own world of aesthetic and erotic pleasures. Wilde’s self-developing individual, like the Decadent, subverts Victorian concepts of “natural” manliness and morality. It eschews such Victorian values as conformity, consistency, and sincerity. The self-absorption and mental stimulation practiced by such Decadents as Des Esseintes in Joris-Karl Huysmans’ À rebours exemplify the positive values of self-realization and autonomy for Wilde. For example, Des Esseintes secludes himself with his own fancies, nightmares, and visions—stimulated by art and literature.

Citation: Article: “The Perversion of Decadence: The Cases of Oscar Wilde’s Dorian Gray and Salome.”