Decadence and the Making of Modernism

Focusing on decadence as a significant literary movement, this study argues for its role as a bridge between romanticism and modernism, highlighting its aesthetic principles. It explores how decadence influenced various fin-de-siècle literary schools like naturalism and symbolism through analyses of novels from French, English, Italian, and American authors. The author, David Weir, asserts that the decadent sensibility continues to resonate in contemporary culture, particularly through multiculturalism and postmodernism, revealing its lasting impact on literature and theory.