Overview

Romantic writers had found in Christianity a poetic cult of the imagination, an assertion of the spiritual quality of beauty in an age of vulgar materialism. The decadents, a diverse movement of writers, were the climax and exhaustion of this romantic tradition. In their art, they enacted the romance of faith as a protest against the dreariness of modern life. Ellis Hanson teases out two strands--eroticism and aestheticism--that rendered the decadent interest in Catholicism extraordinary. More than any other literary movement, the decadents explored the powerful historical relationship between homoeroticism and Roman Catholicism. Why, throughout history, have so many homosexuals been attracted to Catholic institutions that vociferously condemn homosexuality? This perplexing question is pursued in this elegant and innovative book. Late-nineteenth-century aesthetes found in the Church a peculiar language that gave them a means of artistic and sexual expression. The brilliant cast of characters that parades through this book includes Oscar Wilde, Charles Baudelaire, J.-K. Huysmans, Walter Pater, and Paul Verlaine. Art for these writers was a mystical and erotic experience. In decadent Catholicism we can glimpse the beginnings of a postmodern valorization of perversity and performativity. Catholicism offered both the hysterical symptom and the last hope for paganism amid the dullness of Victorian puritanism and bourgeois materialism.

Full Product Details

Author:   Ellis Hanson
Publisher:   Harvard University Press
Imprint:   Harvard University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.60cm , Height: 2.10cm , Length: 23.50cm
Weight:   0.535kg
ISBN:  

9780674194465

ISBN 10:   0674194462
Pages:   448
Publication Date:   01 February 1998
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Out of stock  
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Table of Contents

Introduction The Dialectic of Shame and Grace Perfect Wagnerites Christianity as Paradis Artificiel Verlaine's Amour In Praise of Shame Huysmans Mysterique Unconscious Unction Conversion Hysteria Christianity by the Back Door Refined Thebaids Pater Dolorosa Pater Noster Renaissance and Resurrection Virgin Marius Monkish Miracles The Temptation of Saint Oscar Christ for Christ's Sake Ritualism and Dandyism Seduction and the Scarlet Woman The Confessional Unmasked Priests and Acolytes Fragrant Prayers Father Silverpoints Pio Corvo Saint Oscar Redivivus Conclusion Notes Index Illustrations The Wagnerites, by Aubrey Beardsley The Ascension of Saint Rose of Lima, from Aubrey Beardsley's Under the Hill (1895) Engraving of Charcot at the Salpêtrière Drawing of Saint Philip, from Charcot and Richer's Les Demoniaques dans l'Art (1887) The Crucifixion (1512-1516), by Matthias Grunewald (detail) Salome Dancing before Herod (1876), by Gustave Moreau Height of Fashion (1866), from Punch Selling off! (1851), from Punch John and Salome by Aubrey Beardsley, from Oscar Wilde's Salome (1892) A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing (1877), from Punch

Reviews

Whoever comes to this book would do well to leave facile preconceptions behind...What is most refreshing about Hanson's approach is that he takes the spirituality [of the writers he examines] every bit as seriously as he does their aesthetic. Indeed he sees the two as inextricably bound...At a time when many people would rather be thought of as invalids than sinners, it is stimulating to read a work that takes seriously the notion that the urgings of the flesh can serve as a foundation for spiritual growth...That one makes the acquaintance, along the way, of Firbank's 'absurdly named Pope Tertius II' is only one among many added bonuses in a book as entertaining as it is learned. -- Frank Wilson Philadelphia Inquirer

Author Information

Ellis Hanson is Assistant Professor of English at Cornell University.

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