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''Fin de siècle'' ((:fɛ̃ də sjɛkl)) is French for end of the century. The term typically encompasses both the meaning of the similar English idiom turn of the century and also the closing and onset of an era. The end of the 19th century was felt to be a period of degeneration, but at the same time a period of hope for a new beginning.〔Schaffer, Talia. Literature and Culture at the Fin de Siècle. New York: Longman, 2007. 3.〕 The "spirit" of fin de siècle often refers to the cultural hallmarks that were recognized as prominent in the 1880s and 1890s, including ennui, cynicism, pessimism, and "...a widespread belief that civilization leads to decadence."〔Meštrović, Stjepan G. ''The Coming Fin de Siecle: An Application of Durkheim's Sociology to modernity and postmodernism.'' Oxon, England, UK; New York, New York, USA: Routledge (1992 (): 2). Pireddu, Nicoletta. "Primitive marks of modernity: cultural reconfigurations in the Franco-Italian fin de siècle," _Romanic Review_, 97 (3-4), 2006: 371-400.〕 The term "fin de siècle" is commonly applied to French art and artists, as the traits of the culture first appeared there, but the movement affected many European countries.〔McGuinness, Patrick (Ed.)''Symbolism, Decadence and the Fin de Siècle: French and European Perspectives.'' Exeter: University Press, 2000: 9. Pireddu, Nicoletta. '' Antropologi alla corte della bellezza. Decadenza ed economia simbolica nell'Europa fin de siècle.'' Verona: Fiorini, 2002.〕 The term becomes applicable to the sentiments and traits associated with the culture, as opposed to focusing solely on the movement's initial recognition in France. The ideas and concerns developed by fin de siècle artists provided the impetus for movements such as symbolism and modernism.〔Has-Ellison, J.Trygve. ''Nobles, Modernism, and the Culture of fin-de-siècle Munich.'' German History 26(1), 2008:1-23, 2.〕 The themes of fin de siècle political culture were very controversial and have been cited as a major influence on fascism.〔Sternhell, Zeev. "Crisis of Fin-de-siècle Thought." ''International Fascism: Theories, Causes and the New Consensus''. London and New York (1998): 169.〕〔Payne, Stanley G. ''A history of fascism, 1914-1945.'' Oxon, England, UK: Routledge, (1995, 2005): 23-24.〕 The major political theme of the era was that of revolt against materialism, rationalism, positivism, bourgeois society, and liberal democracy.〔Sternhell, Zeev. "Crisis of Fin-de-siècle Thought." International Fascism: Theories, Causes and the New Consensus. London and New York (1998): 169.〕 The ''fin-de-siècle'' generation supported emotionalism, irrationalism, subjectivism, and vitalism,〔A history of fascism, 1914-1945.〕 while the mindset of the age saw civilization as being in a crisis that required a massive and total solution.〔Sternhell, Zeev. "Crisis of Fin-de-siècle Thought." International Fascism: Theories, Causes and the New Consensus. London and New York (1998): 169.〕 ==Degeneration theory== B. A. Morel's Degeneration Theory holds that although societies can progress, they can also remain static or even regress if influenced by a flawed environment, such as national conditions or outside cultural influences.〔Hambrook, Glyn. "Baudelaire, Degeneration Theory, and Literary Criticism". ''The Modern Language Review''. 101.4 (2006): 1005-1024. Web. URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20467025.〕 This degeneration can be passed from generation to generation, resulting in imbecility and senility due to hereditary influence. Max Nordau's ''Degeneration'' holds that the two dominant traits of those degenerated in a society involve ego mania and mysticism.〔Hambrook, Glyn. "Baudelaire, Degeneration Theory, and Literary Criticism". ''The Modern Language Review''. 101.4 (2006): 1005-1024. Web. URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20467025.〕 The former term was understood to mean a pathological degree of self-absorption and unreasonable attention to one's own sentiments and activities, as can be seen in the extremely descriptive nature of minute details; the latter referred to the impaired ability to translate primary perceptions into fully developed ideas, largely noted in symbolist works.〔Goldfarb, Russel. "Late Victorian Decadence." ''The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism'' 20.4 (1962): 369-373. Web. URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/427899.〕 Nordau's treatment of these traits as degenerative qualities lends to the perception of a world falling into decay through fin de siècle corruptions of thought, and influencing the pessimism growing in Europe's philosophical consciousness.〔Hambrook, Glyn. "Baudelaire, Degeneration Theory, and Literary Criticism". ''The Modern Language Review''. 101.4 (2006): 1005-1024. Web. URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20467025.〕 As fin de siècle citizens, attitudes tended toward science in an attempt to decipher the world in which they lived. The focus on psycho-physiology, now psychology, was a large part of fin de siècle society〔Maxwell, Catherine. Theodore Watts-Dunton's 'Aylwin (1898)' and the Reduplications of Romanticism. ''The Yearbook of English Studies'' 37.1 (2007): 1-21. Web. URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20479275.〕 in that it studied a topic that could not be depicted through Romanticism, but relied on traits exhibited to suggest how the mind works, as does symbolism. The concept of genius returned to popular consciousness around this period through Max Nordau's work with degeneration, prompting study of artists supposedly affected by social degeneration and what separates imbecility from genius. The genius and the imbecile were determined to have largely similar character traits, including ''les delires des grandeurs'' and la ''folie du doute.''〔Hambrook, Glyn. "Baudelaire, Degeneration Theory, and Literary Criticism". ''The Modern Language Review''. 101.4 (2006): 1005-1024. Web. URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20467025.〕 The first, which means delusions of grandeur, begins with a disproportionate sense of importance in one's own activities and results in a sense of alienation,〔"What Is Fin de Siecle?"' 'The Art Critic' ' 1.1 (1893): 9. Web. URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20494209.〕 as Nordau describes in Baudelaire, as well as the second characteristic of madness of doubt, which involves intense indecision and extreme preoccupation to minute detail.〔Hambrook, Glyn. "Baudelaire, Degeneration Theory, and Literary Criticism". ''The Modern Language Review''. 101.4 (2006): 1005-1024. Web. URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20467025.〕 The difference between degenerate genius and degenerate madman become the extensive knowledge held by the genius in a few areas paired with a belief in one's own superiority as a result. Together, these psychological traits lend to originality, eccentricity, and a sense of alienation, all symptoms of ''la mal du siècle'' that impacted French youth at the beginning of the 19th century until expanding outward and eventually influencing the rest of Europe approaching the turn of the century.〔"What Is Fin de Siecle?"' 'The Art Critic' ' 1.1 (1893): 9. Web. URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20494209.〕〔Shrimpton, Nicholas. "'Lane, You're a Perfect Pessimist': Pessimism and the English 'Fin de siècle.'" ''The Yearbook of English Studies'' 37.1 (2007): 41-57. Web. URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20479277.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Fin de siècle」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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