Decadence and Catholicism

Ellis Hanson is Assistant Professor of English at Cornell University.

• 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 Salp&#234tri&#232re 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 Salomé by Aubrey Beardsley, from Oscar Wilde's Salomé (1892) "A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing" (1877), from Punch

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.