| Sažetak | Prikazi se dekadencije Zapada u posebnoj vrsti književnog teksta zvanog dekadentskim romanom izučavaju još, u najmanju ruku, od 1970-ih i 1980-ih, prije svega u Francuskoj i Velikoj Britaniji, no istraživačko polje još uvijek nije iznjedrilo sustavnu teoriju dekadentskog romana. Pod dekadentskim romanom se dosad podrazumijevalo žanrovski i estetički nepomirljive romane koji se bave raznim oblicima rasapa, raspada, pada ili propadanja, od urušavanja porodice i kolapsa bilo kakvog ... Više društvenopolitičkog poretka pa sve do degeneracije pojedinaca. U ovoj se disertaciji iznosi nova teorija dekadentskoga romana koja polazi od pretpostavke da dekadentski roman nije bilo kakav roman o padu ili rasapu, već je riječ o žanru modernog satiričkog romana koji monopolizira temu spektakla dekadencije sasvim specifične civilizacije: modernog Zapada. Štoviše, kroz spektakl se propasti modernog Zapada u dekadentskom romanu, čija se političnost potvrđuje kroz bespoštednu pareziju o inherentno zloj prirodi projekta moderniteta, razotkriva do koje je mjere dekadencija Zapada različita od svih ostalih padova i odumiranja civilizacija kroz povijest, jer se kao konstitutivna vrijednost moderniteta demaskira pleoneksija. Dekadentski roman proizlazi iz dekadentske estetike kao osmišljenog umjetničkog okvira ozbiljenja dekadentske političke imaginacije koja, upijajući ideologeme i imaginarije konzervativnog antimodernizma, prokazuje duhovnopovijesni stadij dekadencije kojeg doseže moderni Zapad u epohi moderne, te, ujedno, razotkriva nihilizam kao usud i bit moderniteta. Propast se Zapada u dekadentskom romanu pretvara u priželjkivanu katastrofu, u umjetnički spektakl raskrinkavanja dijaboličnosti moderniteta i moderne kao pakla, pri čemu se, dekadenciji nasuprot, zamišlja ili kulturna palingeneza ili pak još dublje uvlačenje u dekadenciju radi dovođenja moderniteta do krajnosti nihilizma, a time i do samorasplinuća. Budući da dekadentski roman razvija prikaze moderne države kao okvira za anomiju, modernog sebstva kao rezervoara antinomijskih žudnji, modernog društva kao arene nadmetanja takvih žudnji, moderne etike kao emotivizma i moderne političke teologije kao ateizma, teoriju dekadentskog romana ima pratiti i teorija konzervativnog antimodernizma. Sakrij dio sažetka |
| Sažetak (engleski) | Although being a self-conscious academic discipline developing at least since the 1970s, decadence studies have still not offered a systematic theory of the decadent novel which would take into consideration inherently political nature of that particular genre of fiction. Within the research field of decadence studies, it is unequivocally accepted that novels such as Huysmans' Against Nature or Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray need to be classified and defined as decadent ... Više novels, but due to the absence of a theory of such a genre, it is unclear what truly makes these novels decadent, what constitutes the canon of the decadent novel, what is their political charge, and why some novels dealing with similar themes of decline, decay, disintegration, or downfall of individuals, kins, societies and even civilizations, simply do not belong to the very same category. The central issue with the existing research field is its categorization of various aesthetically and genre-wise irreconcilable literary texts as decadent novels. Within the field it is uncritically accepted that various literary texts dealing with diverse forms of collapse, downfall, decay or decline (ranging from decline of empires, collapse of families, dissolution of political regimes to degeneration of kins and downfall of individuals) ultimately could be categorized as decadent novels. However, the decadent novel specifically aims to dissect one particular type of cultural, historical, political, and metaphysical downfall – namely, the decadence of the West. The primary goal of this dissertation is to offer an innovative theory of the decadent novel as a specific genre, focusing on its four defining components. However, in order to develop such a theory, first of all it is essential to establish a theory of conservative antimodernism. On the basis of ideological analysis, it is imperative to clearly define the ideological morphology of conservative antimodernism and identify its essential concepts. Constructing a theory of conservative antimodernism is an inevitable first step in formulating a theory of the decadent novel since the latter cannot be fully understood and interpreted without acknowledging its inherent political charge, which is to be found in a specific critique of modernity absorbing the imagery and concepts of conservative antimodernism. Since the decadent novel systematically portrays the modern state as a framework for anomie, the modern self as an idiotic quantum of power disconnected from the commonwealth, the modern society as a battleground of conflicting powers, the modern times as an era of shameless decadence, and the totality of modernity as a project of nihilism unparalleled in the known history of the downfall of civilizations, it is imperative to first examine the particular theory and critique of modernity inaugurated and consolidated by conservative antimodernism, along with the operational concepts upon which it has been built. As it will be shown, the concept of pleonexia lies at the heart of conservative antimodernism. Without undertaking an ideological analysis of the formulation and utilization of this particular concept within the ideology of conservative antimodernism, it is simply impossible to delve into the analysis and interpretation of decadent novels. Therefore, it is necessary to delve into the counterrevolutionary apocalyptic mindset, in which decadence and nihilism herald a terrifying retribution promising a redemption from the perceived pathologies of modernity. Additionally, critical examination of the counterrevolutionary political theology and its essential concepts such as “the wild society” and “the monstrous state” seems as a prerequisite for a better understanding of the inherently political nature of the decadent novel. Such an analysis will clearly demonstrate that the entire tradition of conservative antimodernism, spanning from apocalyptic counterrevolutionaries and romantics to conservative revolutionaries, cultural pessimists, and contemporary critics of modernity, systematically employs the concept of pleonexia in its metapolitical war against modernity, portraying modernity as the reservoir and palpitating center of pleonexia. Only through this comprehensive ideological exploration, it is possible to gain a deeper understanding of the longneglected and insufficiently defined tradition of a specific, culturally pessimistic, critique of modernity, which fundamentally differs from a plethora of other (not necessarily conservative antimodernist) critiques of modernization, modern technology, the inauthenticity of modern life, modern political economy, and so forth. While the central research question of this dissertation pertains to defining the decadent novel, it is necessarily followed by a sub-question: what constitutes the political nature of the decadent novel? The political charge of the decadent novel lies precisely in the fact that it absorbs, often ironically and parodically, the imageries and ideologemes of conservative antimodernism into fiction. Its aim is not solely to expose the acute pathologies of modernity but also to reveal the inherent malevolence and essential flaws in the foundations of Western modernity. In that sense, the decadent novel is indeed the Siamese twin brother of conservative antimodernism. The decadent novel does not just aim to unmask the inherent social hell of the modern state, the excessive desires of the modern self, and the degradation of values in modern times, but it also aims to delve deeper into exploring the fundamental evils of the entirety of modernity as a project of political philosophy annuling and transvaluating the core concepts of premodern political philosophy. Thus, the decadent novel adopts the role of an inquisitor or exorcist interrogating the possessed entity (modernity) until the latter confesses its submission to the specter of pleonexia. In order to overcome the pressing issues in the research field of decadence studies, a completely new theory of the decadent novel is proposed in this dissertation, emerging from the assumption that the decadent novel is not just any novel about decay, decline, or dissolution. Instead, the decadent novel is conceived as a form of modern satirical novel that monopolizes the theme of the spectacle of the decadence of the Western civilization in its perceived stage of unprecedented moral, political, historical and metaphysical downfall. While the decline has been an inevitable part of each and every organic cycle of the rise and downfall of a civilization throughout history, the decadent novel is not merely concerned with the ordinary decay of an ordinary civilization. It is not captivated by the fall of Rome, the self-destruction of the Aztecs, or the collapse of Babylon. Rather, it is fixated on the spectacle of the downfall of the modern West as an essentially evil civilization founded on fundamentally flawed constitutive myths. In the works of Juvenal, Hesiod, and Petronius, decadence is depicted as a period of decline and organic decay of a culture destined to perish, just like all the other cultures throughout history in the realm of transience. However, the decadent novel addresses not merely an ordinary decline of a culture or a dissolution of a civilization, but it focuses on the cataclysm of epic proportions, a self-inflicted apocalypse befalling a specific overripe culture that has embraced anomie as its societal norm. What distinguishes the modern West from hubristic civilizations of the past that acknowledged their own inevitable historical demise, is its obsession with and embeddedness in pleonexia. This is exactly what the decadent novel aims to unveil: pleonexia as the constitutive matrix of Western modernity. The decadent novel aims to unmask the scandalous truth about the evil lying in the core of the modern state, modern society, modern self etc.: the truth about pleonexia as the core principle of the modern self, the matrix of the modern society, and the value of the modern state. This image of the inherent (satanistic) wickedness of modernity becomes fully appropriated by the decadent novel. Absorbing the ideologemes and imageries of conservative antimodernism into fiction, the decadent novel develops its inherent political charge to the extreme. The decadent novel absorbs the scandalous vision of the essential wickedness of modernity in the entirety of its pleonexia, but for the satirical purpose of unveiling the hidden truth about the proper nature of the reservoir of desires of Western modernity. The decadent novel is by no means a reflection of the ideology of conservative antimodernism; rather, it is a literary text that absorbs and subordinates the ideologemes and imaginaries of conservative antimodernism (as well as its political myths) to its own fictional nature in order to depict and vivisect the monstrosity of modernity. The decadent novel is a genre of the modern novel arising from the decadent aesthetics as the artistic framework for realization of the cultural-pessimist decadent political imagination, which, relying on the ideologemes and imaginaries of conservative antimodernism, exposes the moral and historical stage of decadence of modern times, as well as the inherently nihilistic nature of modernity. As a reservoir of conservative antimodernist imagination, the decadent novel offers either a vision of cultural palingenesis beyond modernity, or a process of reduction of modernity to the utmost extremity of its inherent nihilism (and thereby its self-annihilation). With its aim to expose the pathologies of modernity, the decadent novel amalgamates elements of social and political satire and novel of ideas. In the decadent novel, the protagonist becomes the reservoir of certain political ideas, while essayist elements and politicalphilosophical discourse are used throughout the text for the purpose of vivisecting pleonexia. Decadent aesthetics depends on saturation, exaggeration, intensification, and the unrestrained accumulation of sensations, delving not only into the experience of life in the modern epoch but also into the very core of modernity’s darkness: into pleonexia. In the decadent novel, pleonexia is given a voice, a hubristic and crazed voice which madly bifurcates, feverishly collapsing into all of its excesses. Giving a voice to pleonexia means giving a voice to nihilism as the inevitable fate and quintessence of modernity. The decadent novel does not hesitate to open the maelstrom of pleonexia in the text, reveling in the most shameless triumph of pleonexia and thereby underscoring the extent to which modernity fell into exorbitance, insatiability and antinomianism. The collapse of the Western civilization thus becomes a desired spectacle, an apocalyptic purification. Ultimately, by experiencing the abyss of modernity’s inferno, the decadent subject transmutates into the apotheosis of order. Only when immersed in the social hell of pleonexia (anomie) does the decadent subject manage to attain the ideal of premodern order of meaning in whose intolerable light modern self cannot dwell. Cultural palingenesis can only emerge from a culture that, confronting the roots of its own deviations and sins, seeks to be reborn. Therefore, experiencing decadence to its extremity represents the pinnacle of tragic sentiment toward a lost golden age. Through the maelstrom of pleonexia, the decadent novel ultimately establishes a basis for imagining cultural palingenesis. The central characteristics of the decadent novel as a genre encompass the decadent subject, the decadent political imagination, the decadent form, and the decadent style. The decadent subject, serving as the protagonist, embodies the palpitating center of ultramodernity, being a figure characterized by aesthetical and ethical emotivism, dandyism, the imperative of self-realization within the realm of negative liberty, and being the ultimate connoisseur of bizarre beauty amidst a dying civilization. Simultaneously, the decadent subject also serves as a reservoir of ressentiment against modernity. Through the lens of conservative antimodernism, the decadent subject unveils nihilism as the essence of modernity and decadence as the historical stage reached by the West. Decadent political imagination responds to this perceived stage of decadence by developing a critique of modernity imbrued either with a vision of cultural palingenesis beyond modernity or with a vision of bringing modernity to the extremity of its inherent nihilism and thereby to the point of self-annihilation of modernity. The decadent form provides the framework for pleonexia to articulate itself, thereby allowing the excesses of an insatiable, exorbitant and antinomian civilization to manifest vividly. The decadent style is characterized by excessive artificiality, bizarre decor, and saturation with sensations. It employs swollen, labyrinthine, and esoteric language with the maximalist aim of encapsulating every aspect of the Western civilization as a damned civilization dying in a scandalous excess and satanic extravagance. The decadent novel transforms the downfall of the West into an artistic spectacle that indulges all senses with bizarre sensations, aiming to bring readers closer to experiencing the ideal of the golden age. The decadent novel carries within itself the light of the inquisition, delighting in probing the pathologies of modernity and classifying all the features of its decadence. Only through confronting the horror of the West's transgressions and its subsequent punishment by falling into modernity does the possibility of cultural palingenesis arise. Sakrij dio sažetka |
