You have downloaded a document from

The Central and Eastern European Online Library

The joined archive of hundreds of Central-, East- and South-East-European publishers,

research institutes, and various content providers

Source: Annales Universitatis Apulensis. Series Philologica

Annals of the University of Alba Iulia - Series Philology

Location: Romania
Author(s): Petru Ștefan Ionescu
Title: The Yellow Decade
The Yellow Decade
Issue: 2/2013
Citation Petru Ștefan Ionescu. "The Yellow Decade ". Annales Universitatis Apulensis. Series
style: Philologica 2:197-2O2.

https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=124585
CEEOL copyright 2023

CULTURE AND LITERATURE STUDIES

THE YELLOW DECADE

Teaching Assistant Ph.D. PETRU ŞTEFAN IONESCU

1 Decembrie 1918 University of Alba Iulia, Romania

Abstract: The 1890s are iconic for the development, coronation and fall
of Decadence in England. The decade was also named the yellow decade, as
yellow was the color chosen by the decadent writers and artists to represent the
spirit of those wilde years. The ideas and expressions of the decadents, as well
as their manifesto were published by „The Yellow Book” and later „The
Savoy”. The self-complacent Victorian society needed no artistic imports,
especially from France after the French Revolution. Literature and arts were
relatively isolated, the only main influence coming from German scholars and
philosophers. Liberalism in politics was not followed in social life and art. On
the contrary, after the relaxed morals of the Regency Period, there came,
together with the even stronger ascension to power of the bourgeoisie middle-
class, a new wave of Puritanism. And art in Britain had to serve society, to
educate and lead the citizens towards a better, peaceful, prosperous,
harmonious and noble life. There were artists and writers who embraced the
idea, and others who rejected it. Only the end of the century and of
Victorianism brought with it a new relaxation in British society in relation to
morals. The signs of decline were beginning to show now, after the very
confident mid-Victorianism made place for the worries of England losing its
hegemony both economically and politically to younger nations like America
and Germany. A general wave of pessimism started to replace the unlimited
optimism of the earlier years. The way was prepared for the generation of the
1890s with its shocking attempts to reform, morally and aesthetically, the
conservative British society. Next to Oscar Wilde, Audrey Beardsley or Arthur
Symons, widely known as a spokesman of the Decadent Movement, there were
other English writers and artists who were influenced by the cultural
phenomenon of the decadence: poets like Lionel Johnson, Richard Le Galliene,
Ernest Dowson, Michael Field, John Gray, George Moore with his 1870
attempt to imitate Baudelaire Flowers of Passion, Max Beerbohm, or the
American-born painter Whistler. Some of the above mentioned poets were
members of the Rhymers’ Club (1890-1895), frequented also by W. B. Yeats
who also helped founding it. They couldn’t adapt to the society of their times,
couldn’t pass the unfair examination of their sad and destroying lives, and were
crushed by them. Remembering them Yeats referred to them as the “Tragic
generation”.
The tribunes for the aesthetic ideas of this generation were the decadent
magazines “The Yellow Book” which appeared from April 1894 – April 1897

197

CEEOL copyright 2023

CEEOL copyright 2023

ANNALES UNIVERSITATIS APULENSIS. SERIES PHILOLOGICA

and the even shorter-lived “The Savoy” with its last number appeared in
December 1896. This also marked the end for English Decadence and it
transformation into symbolism. Even Symons changed the name of his work into
The Symbolist Movement in Literature (1899).
Key words: Decadence, Dandyism, Symbolism, Yellow Book, Yellow
Nineties.

The 1880’s witnessed the height of Decadentism in continental Europe,

with remarkable writings like Joris-Karl Huysmans A rebours (1884), the novel
without a plot, the “breviary of decadence”, as Arthur Symons wrote in his 1893
essay The Decadent Movement in Literature. In England things looked a little
bit different, as particularities of the British Isles and its isolationism imposed.
The self-complacent Victorian society needed no artistic imports, especially
from France after the French Revolution. Literature and arts were relatively
isolated, the only main influence coming from German scholars and
philosophers. Under these circumstances, Romanticism was followed in Britain
by a new era of unlimited thrust in science and progress, which led to
Positivism, Rationalism, Social Darwinism, and of course to Utilitarianism.
Liberalism in politics was not followed in social life and art. On the contrary,
after the relaxed morals of the Regency Period, there came, together with the
even stronger ascension to power of the bourgeoisie middle-class, a new wave
of Puritanism. And art in Britain had to serve society, to educate and lead the
citizens towards a better, peaceful, prosperous, harmonious and noble life.
There were artists and writers who embraced the idea, and others who rejected
it. So we could divide Victorian society into three large categories the
Philistines, who tried to enforce their values, the Reformers (Ruskin, Morris,
Shaw), who tried to effect changes in society, and the Decadents. The
generation of decadent forerunners in England is represented by the Pre-
Raphaelites, a group of poets and painters gathered around Dante Gabriel
Rosetti, who was himself a poet and a painter. The Pre-Raphaelites also
searched for the absolute beauty in art, for an art freed from the canons enforced
to it by the Victorian society. Yet they did not entirely abandon the moral role
of art, as Decadents would later.
The one writer who may be considered the first English decadent was
Algernon Swinburne (1837-1909). Swinburne was among the first English
writers to accept again influences from abroad and especially from the “rotten
French literature”. He was the first to write of Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs de mal in
a favourable and appreciative way. His 1866 Poems and Ballads were a shock to
the Victorians and were almost unanimously condemned and attacked for their
– and their author’s - paganism and Satanism. Swinburne was said to be
“unclean for the sake of uncleanness”, and was charged with perversity and
morbidity. These terms would later apply to the decadents, so Swinburne may

198

CEEOL copyright 2023

CEEOL copyright 2023

CULTURE AND LITERATURE STUDIES

be regarded as the first decadent in England. To him may be traced the roots of
what was to become the “flood” of decadent literature.
The greatest influence on the Aesthetic Movement of the Fin de Siecle
was the Oxford scholar Walter Horatio Pater (1839 – 1894), mainly through his
famous Conclusions from the Study in the History of the Renaissance (1873).
Here Pater claimed that: ”To burn always with this hard, gemlike lame, to
maintain this ecstasy, is success in life”. But Pater did also not given up all
moral role of art. His writings were greatly misunderstood by many of his
young and enthusiastic disciples – the most notorious being Oscar Wilde, who
called Pater’s work “the very flower of decadence” – who saw in his work only
a hedonistic way of life and an art liberated of all purpose including morals.
Pater removed the Conclusions from the second edition (1877) of his Study, and
reintroduced it slightly modified only in the third edition (1888), after having
clearly expressed his views on life and art in his novel Marius the Epicurean
(1885). Pater was never a decadent himself, but his disciples would become the
greatest decadents.
Only the end of the century and of Victorianism brought with it a new
relaxation in British society in relation to morals. The signs of decline were
beginning to show now, after the very confident mid-Victorianism made place
for the worries of England losing its hegemony both economically and
politically to younger nations like America and Germany. The confidence in its
colonial power was shaken after the defeat of British troops in Sudan in the
1870s. Also, the 1870s meant a general economic depression, not only in
Britain but in all Western Europe. For the first time the term unemployment
appeared, and poverty and homelessness became to be widespread
phenomenon. Union movements, strikes, and the recurrence of Socialism –
which had almost disappeared since the 1850s – made things only worse. Even
if the economy did not was not regressing, it wasn’t also growing, which
stagnation meant a drawback after the glorious years of the mid-century.
Women added to this their new feminist movement which came as a challenge
to the traditional and well established male society. A general wave of
pessimism started to replace the unlimited optimism of the earlier years. The
way was prepared for the generation of the 1890s with its shocking attempts to
reform, morally and aesthetically, the conservative British society.
The most famous decadent and dandy-aesthete of the late 19th century in
Britain was undoubtedly Oscar Wilde (1854-1900). Strongly influenced by
Pater in his aestheticism and by the French literature in his decadentism, he
managed to combine decadent writing with decadent living. He was a dandy, a
poseur, and lived his life by the hedonistic rules he put into many of his
writings. He despised the mediocrity and vulgarity of the bourgeoisie middle
class but indulged himself in being an object of adulation for the same middle-
class. His very successful plays were critics to the hypocrisy of the Philistine
but he took great pleasure in the success the plays had with the same Philistine.

199

CEEOL copyright 2023

CEEOL copyright 2023

ANNALES UNIVERSITATIS APULENSIS. SERIES PHILOLOGICA

They depict the false morality of contemporary society and the English double
standards. About his only novel The Picture of Dorian Grey (1891), a book
inspired by Huysmans’ A rebours, the London Daily Chronicle said: “a tale
spawned from the leprous literature of the French Decadents, a poisonous
book.” He liked to shock through his extreme wit, through dressing (his
invention being the famous green carnation, which was to become the symbol
of Decadence) and through his famous paradoxes. In the end, his disregard,
daring, and infatuation knew no more limits and led him into disaster.
Another remarkable representative of the British decadent movement
was Aubrey Beardsley (1872-1898). Although he lived for only 25 years and
had a public artistic life of only about 6 years, he succeeded to put his original
mark on his era. His original drawings and his innovative “Beardsley curved
line” have remained trademarks of him and of British decadence. He is famous
for some book illustrations like Wilde’s Salome. His drawings show highly
erotic, morbid, bizarre and perverse features. In April 1894 Beardsley became
the art editor of The Yellow Book, the first English aesthetic magazine. The
magazine was founded by Aubrey Beardsley, the art editor; Henry Harland, the
literary editor; and John Lane, the founder of the Bodley Head publishing
house, who was well known for his support for decadent writers. Beardsley,
who had grown to dislike Wilde, together with Harlan and Lane, who were
worried by the rumours concerning Wilde’s behaviour, decided to exclude
Wilde from its contributors. Wilde was furious of not being invited to take part
in this enterprise and had no words of praise for it. However, the Wilde trial and
its tragic end also affected Beardsley, who, because of his illustrations of
Salome, was still largely associated with Wilde, so he was forced to leave the
editorial staff of The Yellow Book, after the pragmatic John Lane put away
loyalty in front of the pressures from Harland. The Yellow Book continued to
appear until April 1897. Beardsley continued his publicist work with another
magazine, founded at the initiative of publisher Leonard Smithers. Arthur
Symons (1864-1945), widely known as a spokesman of the Decadent
Movement, was the literary editor of the new The Savoy, and he invited
Beardsley to contribute to the magazine and be its art editor. This magazine
appeared in January 1896 and was even shorter-lived than The Yellow Book, due
to the influence of various factors, like lack of support and bad distribution.
Arthur Symons wrote alone the entire last number of the magazine, and
Beardsley illustrated it. The last number appeared in December 1896.
This also marked the end for English Decadence and it transformation
into symbolism. Even Symons changed the name of his work into The Symbolist
Movement in Literature (1899).
Other English writers and artists who were influenced by the cultural
phenomenon of the decadence were poets like Lionel Johnson, Richard Le
Galliene, Ernest Dowson, Michael Field, John Gray, George Moore with his
1870 attempt to imitate Baudelaire Flowers of Passion, Max Beerbohm, or the

200

CEEOL copyright 2023

CEEOL copyright 2023

CULTURE AND LITERATURE STUDIES

American-born painter Whistler. Some of the above mentioned poets were

members of the Rhymers’ Club (1890-1895), frequented also by W. B. Yeats
who also helped founding it. They couldn’t adapt to the society of their times,
couldn’t pass the unfair examination of their sad and destroying lives, and were
crushed by them. Remembering them Yeats referred to them as the “Tragic
generation”.
Like I have already mentioned, Decadence began to fall when the term -
and the lifestyle – became too popular, too fashionable, which was clearly after
Huysmans’ great success with A rebours in 1884. By 1885 it could already be
parodied, when Gabriel Vicaire and Henri Beuclaire published their satire of
decadent poetry Les Deliquescenses d’Adore Floupette. The same thing
happened in England. “Decadence” was abused, became fashionable, and most
people could not make the distinction between decadent writing and decadent
(or pseudo-decadent) living. An example of the fashionable phenomenon that
decadence became is given by Henry James, who, after attending the first
performance of Wilde’s Lady Windermere’s Fan wrote to a friend:

There was so much drollery – that is “cheeky” paradoxical wit of dialogue, and the
pit and gallery are too pleased at finding themselves clever enough to “catch on” to
four or five of the ingenious – too ingenious ‘mots’ in the dozen, that it makes them
1
feel quite ‘decadent’.

Or even better has this been described by Andrew Lang in 1900:

By kicking holes in his boots, crushing in his hat and avoiding soap, any young
man may achieve a comfortable degree of sordidness, and then, if his verses are
immaterial, and his life suicidal, he may regard himself as a Decadent indeed” 2

Oscar Wilde has been accused, like Wagner, that he has brought decadence to
the masses and by these has devalued it, or has become a false decadent. Other
writers considered even that dramaturgy could not be decadent since it
addressed the masses.
In trying to “rescue” the “term “decadence” Arthur Symons wrote in the
introduction to his renamed work The Symbolist Movement in Literature:

It pleased some young man in various countries to call themselves Decadents,

with all the thrill of unsatisfied virtue masquerading as uncomprehended vice.
As a matter of fact, the term is in its place only when applied to style, to that
ingenuous deformation of the language, in Mallarme, for instance. ... No doubt
perversity of form and perversity of matter are often found together, and,

1
Matthew J. Bruccoli and Richard Layman, Concise Dictionary of British Literary
Biography, vol.IV (Victorian Writers: 1832-1890), Gale Research Inc., New York, 1991, p.348.
2
Karl Beckson, op. cit., p. 39.

201

CEEOL copyright 2023

CEEOL copyright 2023

ANNALES UNIVERSITATIS APULENSIS. SERIES PHILOLOGICA

among the lesser men especially, experiment was carried far, not only in the
direction of style. But a movement which in this sense might be called
Decadence could but have been straying aside from the main road of literature.
Nothing, not even conventional virtue, is so provincial as conventional vice,
and the desire to “bewilder the middle classes” is itself middle class. The
interlude, half a mock –interlude, of Decadence, diverted the attention of the
critics while something more serious was in preparation.” 3

Decadence also had its fierce opponents. One of them was Max Nordau
who in his highly disputed book Degeneration (1892) saw decadence as a
disease of civilisation and claimed to easily recognize:

in the fin de siecle disposition, in the tendencies of contemporary art and

poetry, in the life and conduct of the men who write mystic, symbolic and
‘decadent’ works, and the attitude taken by their admirers in the tastes and
aesthetic instincts of fashionable society, the confluence of two well-defined
conditions of disease, with which he is quite familiar ...degeneration ... and
hysteria, of which the minor stages are designated as neurasthenia.4

Degeneration was often associated with decadence, but Nordau’s

theories were considered by many to be a Philistine attack at the so-called
degenerate art, including of course Decadence.
Other opponents, gathered around the Parnassian poet Henley and his
The National Observer, were as frenetic as their counterparts. Another “blow”
to the movement can be considered the Irish literary renaissance, led by Yeats,
who emphasised the use of Irish myths and legends.

3
Karl Beckson, op. cit., p. 38.
4
William Greensdale, Degeneration, Culture and the Novel, 1880-1940, Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge, 1984, p. 124.

202

CEEOL copyright 2023