Decadent Paradigms: Il piacere by Gabriele D’Annunzio

Abstract

This article analyses Gabriele D’Annunzio’s Il piacere (1889) as a paradigm of decadence, and as a work that projects its long shadow on neo-decadence. Acknowledged as a decadent work soon after its publication, Il piacere was heavily bowdlerized when translated into English. Many paradigmatic elements of decadence are present: human beings described as artworks, in parallel with sentient objects, both collected as bibelots and dispersed in auctions; nobility vs. vulgarity; decadence in the theatrical settings of Roman gardens and cemeteries, where shadows of dead artists materialize. Rome, in D’Annunzio’s novel, is the corrupt Byzantine setting where decadence, moral dissolution and quiet despair can be effectively staged.