Decadent Ecology in British Literature and Art, 1860–1910
Decay, Desire, and the Pagan Revival

Decadent Ecology illuminates the networks of nature, paganism, and queer desire embodied in 19th- and early 20th-century literature and art.

Dennis Denisoff (Author)

9781108845977, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 16 December 2021

250 pages
23.6 x 15.9 x 2.2 cm, 0.57 kg

'Dennis Denisoff's Decadent Ecology in British Literature and Art, 1860–1910: Decay, Desire and the Pagan Revival is an incredibly important book, its style smooth as silk and brilliantly illuminating. But there are ethical strata in Decadent Ecology that lay the groundwork for future scholarship on decadence that makes this jewel of a book a singular achievement … he offers us a decadent ethics of compassionate, intertwined coexistence that is sorely needed in these painful times.' Julia Skelly, Victorian Studies

Casting fresh light on late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century British art, literature, ecological science and paganism, Decadent Ecology reveals the pervasive influence of decadence and paganism on modern understandings of nature and the environment, queer and feminist politics, national identities, and changing social hierarchies. Combining scholarship in the environmental humanities with aesthetic and literary theory, this interdisciplinary study digs into works by Simeon Solomon, Algernon Swinburne, Walter Pater, Robert Louis Stevenson, Vernon Lee, Michael Field, Arthur Machen and others to address trans-temporal, trans-species intimacy; the vagabondage of place; the erotics of decomposition; occult ecology; decadent feminism; and neo-paganism. Decadent Ecology reveals the mutually influential relationship of art and science during the formulation of modern ecological, environmental, evolutionary and trans-national discourses, while also highlighting the dissident dynamism of new and recuperative pagan spiritualities - primarily Celtic, Nordic-Germanic, Greco-Roman and Egyptian - in the framing of personal, social and national identities.

1. Decadent Ecology and the Pagan Revival
2. 'Up & down & horribly natural': Walter Pater and the Decadent Anthropocene
3. The Lick of Love: Trans-Species Intimacy in Simeon Solomon and Michael Field
4. The Genius Loci as Spirited Vagabond in Robert Louis Stevenson and Vernon Lee
5. Occult Ecology and the Decadent Feminism of Moina Mathers and Florence Farr
6. Sinking Feeling: Intimate Decomposition in William Sharp, Arthur Machen, and George Egerton.

Subject Areas: History of science [PDX], Literary studies: from c 1900 - [DSBH], Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900 [DSBF], History of art & design styles: from c 1900 - [ACX], History of art & design styles: c 1800 to c 1900 [ACV], History of art & design styles: c 1400 to c 1600 [ACN]