Decadence

About

Decadence was a late-19th-century movement that emphasized sensationalism, egocentricity, and bizarre, artificial, perverse, and exotic sensations and experiences. The term originated in Medieval Latin and appeared in 16th-century French before entering English, where it initially bore the neutral meaning of decay, decrease, or decline. By the late 19th century, influenced by new theories of social degeneration, the word took on its modern connotation. In literature, the Decadent movement began in France during the fin de siècle period, intermingling with Symbolism and the Aesthetic movement before spreading throughout Europe and the United States. The Decadent title was originally used as criticism but was eventually adopted triumphantly by some writers themselves. The Decadents praised artifice over nature and sophistication over simplicity, deliberately embracing subjects and styles that critics considered morbid and objectionable as a form of artistic defiance.