MDDM Decadence

[gregory pierrot]

Hello Monica,

If I may, décadence in French poetry is more of the Parnassians, the
"art for art's sake" people, who might have admired poètes maudits,
and Verlaine was pretty close to them (until buddy Rimbaud scorned
them that is), but what they really were were bourgeois and nobles
like Barbey d'Aurevilly, all about what us French call "the spleen" (i
swear to god. it's close to what you guys call "ennui" actually, so
that's a draw). Dark indeed, but really a literature circle pose. For
a truly "decadent" Barbey, there were dozens people now forgotten
gossipping about how decadence was so cool... But he is not considered
a poète maudit, now is he?
Then you also get people like Huysmans, into satanism and all, but
really the poètes maudits cannot be considered part of what is called
the school of decadence. And in the end, they probably were more
decadent in their lives and art than those we call the decadents. In
France anyway.

alfred



MB> There is a separate understanding of ´´ decadence´´ in the 19th century, 
MB> best personified by the French poetes maudits.

MB> It is an aesthetic understanding of decadence, a certain macabre allure for 
MB> idealized dark. I think this perceptual understanding of the term, and not 
MB> the Websterian definition( Webster dictionary defintion, that is, and not 
MB> the poet Webster, ´´ much possessed by Death´´, who is, himself, fittingly 
MB> decadent), is what Pynchon´s prose buys into.

MB> Some of his characters and situations are very representative of this 
MB> particular periphery of vision: Blicero, with his Rilkean affectation, La 
MB> Jarretiére as a porcelain lola, the complete canon for schlemilhood...

MB> --Monica

>>From: "David Morris" <fqmorris at hotmail.com>
>>To: lycidas2 at earthlink.net, pynchon-l at waste.org
>>Subject: Re: MDDM Decadence
>>Date: Wed, 10 Jul 2002 08:19:43 -0500
>>
>>
>>Bravo!  Another great summation, Terrance.  This line of thought is both 
>>convincing and opens many doors for further examination.  Glad to see you 
>>back.
>>
>>David Morris
>>
>>>From: Terrance <lycidas2 at earthlink.net>
>>>
>>>In their Decadency these Virginians practice an elaborate Folly of
>>>Courtly Love, unmodified since the Dark Ages

>>>
>>>   -- RWC's  SDB, M&D.275
>>>
>>>  Decadence?
>>>
>>>A process, condition, or period of deterioration or decline, as in morals 
>>>or art; decay.
>>>
>>>Of course the word is also defined in the novel V. as,  "a falling away 
>>>from the human."
>>>
>>>In terms of GW and Gersh, an interesting comparison might be 
>>>Winsome/Sphere.
>>>
>>>In the SDB entry, the RC sounds quite a lot like the conservative narrator 
>>>of V. (that is Stencil & Co.).
>>>
>>>In fact, RC is the narrator of M&D just as Stencil is the narrator of V.
>>>The parallels are too many to outline just now, but it's obvious that M&D 
>>>is a novel close on the heels of V.
>>>
>>>We can  read RC's conservative moralizing as the author's position, but 
>>>this kind of reading can not be squared with the liberal politics often 
>>>attributed to the author.
>>>
>>>We can, however, attribute these politics to Pynchon's sources, i.e., 
>>>Henry Adams and Denis de Rougemont.
>>[...]
>>
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-- 
Best regards,
 gregory                            mailto:alfredjprufrock at club-internet.fr