Essay Instructions: Paper Topics 2: DECADENT STYLE
This paper must be about STYLE or FORM. In other words, it is not enough just to trace a theme through a text and discuss its significance; you must also analyze how the particular style of a writer is distinctive. Consider any of the following: form (is it a novel, an essay, a dialogue, and why does that matter?), narrative structure, word choice, syntax and prose rhythm, allusiveness and revision of earlier narratives, use of symbolism, or tone.
Write 6-8 pages.
You positively must, must, must write on one of these topics:
1. DECADENT STYLE: Choose a single sentence or paragraph from Poe, Barbey d’Aurevilly, Huysmans, or Pater, and read it very, very closely in an effort to define what makes it distinctive and distinctively Decadent. Choose a fairly substantive example, since you have to spend the whole paper with it. How does it use syntax and rhythm, figurative language, neologisms, obscurity and ambiguity, metaphor, symbolism, cultural references, punctuation, repetition, wit, irony, or tone to achieve its effects? Look up key words, especially if they seem odd in any way, and consider the reasons (or even the ambiguities) in certain word choices. How does the author enact his stated theories of style or beauty in this sentence? How does this sentence contribute something unique to the narrative or essay argument as a whole? How is the style well-suited to the subject matter? If you write on Huysmans or Barbey d’Aurevilly (as you should, if you are taking this course for Comparative Literature credit), you must consider the passage in French, though you may also discuss the translation of our text.
2. FATAL BOOKS: Decadent writing is often a fatal text about a fatal text. Discuss the function of ONE particular painting or piece of music or literary text in Huysmans or Pater. What is it doing there? Is the fatal text itself Decadent? How has it been interpreted, what important aspects of it are discussed, what important aspects are left out, and why? How is the sensibility of the reader in the text shaped by a fatal book? If reading is an artful misreading, how has this particular critic become a creative artist? What influence does the style of one fatal text have on the style of another? Consider the appearance of Flaubert’s Saint Antony or Barbey d’Aurevilly’s dinner party of atheists or the triptych of Baudelaire poems in Against Nature. Or the drawings of Odilon Redon in Against Nature, or the Mona Lisa in The Renaissance, or Schubert or Schumann in Against Nature.
3. DECADENT NOVEL: What is it about the narrative structure of Against Nature that makes it distinctly Decadent, and how does that structure (as opposed to prose style or thematics) challenge your expectations of a 19th-century novel? You might consider character development, narrative progression, setting, the structure of time, use of critical discourse, structure and arrangement of individual chapters, narration and point of view.
4. DECADENT ANTI-HERO: What becomes a scabrous legend most? Compare Des Esseintes with ONE other Decadent figure: Roderick Usher or Mesnilgrand or Pater’s Michelangelo. What decadent qualities do they have in common? How do their sensibilities differ? How do the language and style of the two texts differently articulate the sensibilities of these characters? How might this comparison help to clarify the meaning of the term Decadence? Points for comparison might include dandyism, illness, ennui, family history, erotic obsession, devotion to art, compulsive study, or political, religious, and aesthetic opinions, but remember to discuss these thematic issues with respect to style or literary form.
