ENGL 3550

Decadence

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2023-2024.

"My existence is a scandal," Oscar Wilde once wrote, summing up in an epigram the effect of his carefully cultivated style of perversity and paradox. Through their celebration of "art for art's sake" and all that was considered artificial, unnatural, or obscene, the Decadent writers of the late-nineteenth century sought to free the pleasures of beauty, spirituality, and sexual desire from their more conventional ethical moorings. We will focus on the literature of the period, including works by Charles Baudelaire, Edgar Allan Poe, A. C. Swinburne, and especially Oscar Wilde, and we will also consider related developments in aesthetic philosophy, painting, music, theater, architecture, and design.

When Offered Fall or Spring.

Breadth Requirement (HB)
Distribution Category (ALC-AS, LA-AS)
Satisfies Requirement This course counts toward the post-1800 requirement for English majors.

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