Decadence

Catalog description

Study of the notion of decadence in fin-de-siècle French culture. From scientific theories of degeneration to literary representations of sexual perversion, writers of the period were consumed by the specter of moral decay and social disease. This course will analyze fictional and non-fictional texts of the period by authors such as Péladan, Lorrain, Rachilde, Mendès, and Nordau.