Decadence, Dekadenz, Dekadens: an interdiscursive exploration of decadence in German and Scandinavian literature and culture at the fin de siecle
Year: 2019

In this thesis I develop an innovative theoretical and methodological approach for exploring interconnections between language, literature and culture at the fin de siecle in Germany and Sweden, focussing on the concept of decadence as the mainspring guiding the elaboration of my approach and analyses. The fin de siecle is characterised as a moment of acute and significant upheaval, instability and uncertainty. Foundational aspects of social and subjective self experience and self understanding undergo profound transformation at this time as core cultural institutions, conventions and values become destabilised and opened up to reformulation. In particular, a sense of hopeful optimism and faith in the potentialities of humanity and human ingenuity jars with a concurrent horror at the ruthlessness, hardship and unrest through which these possibilities are unfolded, and with a sense of anxiety surrounding the uncertainties of a self conscious and open future. How to conceptualise, theorise and analytically manage and approach these ambivalences and tensions is at the heart of the drive underpinning this research. Decadence, especially in the German and Swedish cultural contexts, emerges as a particularly problematic and revealing concept to explore the ambivalences and contradictions of the fin de siecle as troubled and troubling time. Decadence is a notably widespread concept at the fin de siecle, yet this diffuseness poses theoretical and analytical dilemmas. There is a conflicted irresolution between recognising the prevalence of the concept at the time as significant and meaningful, and yet the profound ambiguity and liminality of the term frustrates its use as critical concept in analyses. Decadence is dismissed as too unstable and questionable, and the fundamental indeterminacy of the term often becomes separated out and collapsed in order to make it analytically manageable. It is at this analytical juncture that this project is situated how to reconcile the notable saliency and significance of decadence with its profound ambiguity and instability. The main drive underpinning this project is therefore to develop an original theoretical and methodological approach that explicitly, flexibly and productively addresses the fundamental ambiguity and liminality of decadence at the fin de siecle, an approach in which the instability and ambiguity of the concept become the springboards for analysis rather than its limitation. In the first half of this thesis, I translate critical issues and insights on decadent ambiguity and instability at the fin de siecle into theories of (re)signification and meaning. Reframing decadence in terms of theories of meaning and (re)signification enables me to theorise the significance and meaningfulness of the ambiguity and liminality of decadence as playing a particular semantic function as opening up semantic resources and strategies for destabilising, exploring and reformulating different possibilities of meaningful configuration. In particular, a theoretical and methodological approach to meaning and signification that combines systems theory, discourse theory and computational approaches to textual analysis facilitates a systemic, flexible and productive approach to decadent ambiguity and liminality at the