Voluptuous Interventionism: An Introductory Note from the Editor-in-Chief

Abstract

Despite the continuing broad interest in Decadence, there has been no interdisciplinary journal of Decadence that looks beyond the nineteenth century for its material or seeks to connect late nineteenth-century Decadent literature with its roots in Roman antiquity and its expression in modern and contemporary literature, art, and culture – until now. As is obvious from the titles of conferences and symposia listed above, Decadence has tended to be absorbed into the broader fields of Nineteenth-century Studies, Victorian literature, and Modernism, and is often viewed in relation to Aestheticism and Fin de Siècle Studies, but this does not do justice to the continuity, complexity, and polyvalence of Decadent literature. Neither does it reflect its intrinsic and fascinating unruliness, the way it calls into question traditional literary categories such as genre and periodization. It was in recognition of the peculiar dimensions and challenges of Decadence that the idea for a journal of Decadence studies was conceived. Volupté was born.