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ABSTRACT
In 1886, when the Decadent movement formed around Anatole Baju’s Le Décadent, some on the radical left in France saw its potential to become the locus of an avant-garde that fused politics and literature. Despite the efforts among some anarchists to associate themselves with the pejorative label of ‘decadent’ or to be a part of the journal, by the end of the year, all ties between those involved with anarchism and Le Décadent were definitively severed. If the avant-garde was represented ideologically in the mid-1880s by anarchism, Le Décadent did not show itself to be interested in finding common ground with them despite having opportunities to align itself with this new political movement.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes on contributor
Richard Shryock is an associate professor of French at Virginia Tech. He has written articles on Symbolism, Huysmans, and Zola. A volume of correspondence received by the symbolist writer and art critic Gustave Kahn appeared in 1996 (Nizet). In collaboration with Françoise Lucbert, he published an edited collection entitled Gustave Kahn: Un écrivain engagé (PUR, Citation2013). His book-length study of the politics of the French Symbolist Movement in literature is nearing completion.
Notes
1 In this article, ‘movement’ and ‘school’ will be used interchangeably as this use reflects contemporary practices of the period under study.
2 See Maitron (Citation1983: 111–50) for more information.
3 His book Principes du socialisme (Citation1895), however, had a preface by Jules Guesde, who represented an opposing socialist current to the possibilists of the Coup de feu group.
4 When Baju brought out the second series of his publication in review form in 1888, the positive remarks in Le Décadent suggest a reconciliation between the two.
5 In the issues of 3 July ‘Don Quichotte’ and 24 July 1886 ‘La perruque du capitaine Gorieff: Nouvelle’.
6 He did not publish in their journal (at least under his name), nor does his name appear in police surveillance reports of the group.
7 In the issues of 29 May, 26 June, and 17 July 1886.
8 For her book, Légendes et chants de gestes canaques Michel even borrowed a legend from Malato.
9 For more information on his life, see Caroline Granier’s (Citation2009) ‘Préface’ to Malato’s 1905 novel La Grande Grève.
10 26 June, ‘Pudeur de mièvre’; 31 July, ‘Épitre à une Fantaisiste’; 7 August, ‘Paul Verlaine’; 14 August ‘Bibliographie’ and ‘Fleur âtre. Rondel’; 21 August ‘Un livre’.
11 This was republished as ‘Pointe-sèche’ in Berrichon (Citation1910: 89–90).
12 See for example, Luc (Citation1886: 6), Trublot (Citation1886: 4), and especially Schuh (Citation2015: 8–9).
13 Both were close with Jacques Pausader who wrote in Le Tintamarre. This journal had a collaborator Roland Montclavel (who also published under Gaston Bertram and Gaston Bertrand), an active contributor to Le Décadent in its early months and an attendee of La Butte. Montclavel published in the anarchist Sans-Culotte directed by Henri Mayence, himself part of La Butte. Schiroky had connections to Le Coup de feu, which published one article by Pausader, several by Montclavel, and several by Cazals, an active collaborator of Le Décadent. Berrichon had already published in other petites revues. These connections suggest that the three had other social ties that would have allowed them to publish elsewhere.
14 For more complete information on this group, see Shryock (Citation2000: 291–307).
15 For example, Kristeva attributes the invitation to Baju (Citation1974: 422). Noël Richard describes the organizers as ‘quelques jeunes Décadents’ suggesting that it was individuals associated with the movement (Citation1968: 107).
16 Thomas (Citation1971: 307–08) and Richard (Citation1968: 107–14) also provide descriptions of the first two lectures.