Decadence, Decadentism and Decadent Romanticism in Italy: Toward a Theory of Décadence

Abstract

tical device in explaining the evolution of civilization. For them decadence is an ineluctable stage in history, a cyclical phenomenon indicating a decline in social vitality and in the artistic creativity of an age. In this generic sense the term is employed by historians like Spengler and Toynbee to describe numerous epochs from antiquity down to the present day. During the nineteenth century, however, the term decadence acquired a particular meaning and was widely understood in the public mind, though in a vague sort of way, as a corrupt, immoral esthetic sensibility. Numerous attempts have been made to eliminate this vagueness, to demonstrate in a clear and unmistakable manner what decadence was or, at least, was not. Richard Gilman's Decadence: the Strange Life of an Epithet (1979) is typical of this genre, in its purposes, if not in its conclusions. As the most recent general treatment of the subject, Gilman's book is a convenient and an even necessary starting place for our own investigation into the peculiarly Italian aspects of the decadent phenomenon in Europe. In fact, he points out, as many have pointed out before him, that Italy was a theme dear to fin de siecle esthetes. Such rarefied con-