Decadence and literature Decadence and Literature explains how the concept of decadence developed since Roman times into a major cultural trope with broad explanatory power. No longer just a term of opprobrium for mannered art or immoral behaviour decadence today describes complex cultural and social responses to modernity in all its forms. From the Roman emperors indulgence in luxurious excess as both personal vice and political control to the Enlightenment libertines rational pursuit of hedonism to the nineteenth century dandys simultaneous delight and distaste with modern urban life decadence has emerged as a way of taking cultural stock of major social changes. These changes include the role of women in forms of artistic expression and social participation formerly reserved for men as well as the increasing acceptance of LGBTQ+ relationships a development with a direct relationship to decadence. Today decadence seems more important than ever to an informed understanding of contemporary anxieties and uncertainties