Title Decadent culture in the United States : art and literature against the American grain, 1890-1926 / David Weir

Published Albany : State University of New York Press, ©2008

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Description 1 online resource (xxii, 233 pages) : illustrations, maps Series SUNY series, studies in the long nineteenth century SUNY series, studies in the long nineteenth century. Contents Introduction : the problem of American decadence -- New York : decadent connections -- Boston : decadent communities -- Chicago : the business of decadence -- San Francisco : the seacoast of decadence -- The decadent revival Summary "Decadent Culture in the United States traces the development of the decadent movement in America from its beginnings in the 1890s to its brief revival in the 1920s. During the fin de siecle, many Americans felt the nation had entered a period of decline since the frontier had ended and the country's "manifest destiny" seemed to be fulfilled. Decadence - the cultural response to national decline and individual degeneracy so familiar in nineteenth-century Europe - was thus taken up by groups of artists and writers in major American cities such as New York, Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco. Noting that the capitalist, commercial context of America provided possibilities for the entrance of decadence into popular culture to a degree that simply did not occur in Europe, David Weir argues that American-style decadence was driven by a dual impulse: away from popular culture for ideological reasons, yet toward popular culture for economic reasons. By going against the grain of dominant social and cultural trends, American writers produced a native variant of Continental Decadence that eventually dissipated "upward" into the rising leisure class and "downward" into popular, commercial culture."--Jacket Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 203-222) and index Notes English Print version record Subject Degeneration -- Social aspects -- United States -- History Decadence in art -- History Art, American. Decadence (Literary movement) -- United States -- History American literature -- History and criticism. ART -- Popular Culture. American literature Art, American Decadence in art Decadence (Literary movement) Intellectual life Kultur Dekadenz Kunst SUBJECT United States -- Intellectual life -- 1865-1918. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85140366 United States -- Intellectual life -- 20th century. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85140367 Boston (Mass.) -- Intellectual life Chicago (Ill.) -- Intellectual life San Francisco (Calif.) -- Intellectual life Subject California -- San Francisco Illinois -- Chicago Massachusetts -- Boston United States USA Genre/Form Criticism, interpretation, etc. History Form Electronic book ISBN 9781435632967 1435632966

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