Major Authors

Symbolism Symbolism as an artistic movement arises in France in the second half of the 1800s. The movement proper can be dated to Jean Moréas' "Symbolist Manifesto" in 1884, but most scholars trace its origin back to 1857 and the publication of Les Fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire, who is often considered the father of Symbolism. A major tenet of the Symbolists is their belief in a correspondence between the physical, natural, quotidian reality and a higher, spiritual, transcendent reality. The poet has a special ability to perceive this correspondence and to articulate it through language. Often (as in Baudelaire), the new modern world, which is becoming increasingly materialistic, mechanized, and bourgeois, represents a serious obstacle to the perception and experience of this higher reality. In addition, the "illumination" that the poet/seer/visionary can attain comes at a high price (Arthur Rimbaud's Illuminations comes after his Season in Hell). Many Symbolists reject the social, ethical, and aesthetic standards of their cultures, which they view as shallow and limited. Hence, many of them cultivate an existence on the margins of society, and this branch of Symbolism (d)evolves into the Decadence movement (esp. in France and Britain). A figure who serves as an archetype for decadence is Des Esseintes, the main character in Joris Karl Huysmans' novel A Rebours (Against Nature). who explores all manner of extraordinary and even deviant sensory and psychic impressions in decorating his house (exotic jewels and incense, strange Symbolist paintings, and classics of pornographic literature). This novel was tremendously influential among the Aesthetes in Britain, such as Aubrey Beardsley and Oscar Wilde (this is the unnamed novel that "corrupts" Dorian Gray). In France, important Symbolists include Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Paul Verlaine, and the so-called high priest of Symbolism, Stéphane Mallarmé. The Russian variety of Symbolism, which extended into the first years of the 20th century, has a much stronger philosophical and religious emphasis. Major Russian Symbolists include Dmitri Merezhkovsky, Valery Bryusov, Fyodor Sologub, Aleksandr Blok, and Andrei Belyi. As one can see in the following quotations from Belyi, the Russian Symbolists were making some tremendous claims for the power of art and of language in particular: "The essence of a religious perception has passed into the area of artistic creation." "Words not only assert the existence of the objects they name, they not only have the power to subjugate and subdue phenomena, they actually have the power to call new things into being." "Language is the most powerful instrument of creation. When I name an object with a word I thereby assert its existence." Although Symbolism is primarily associated with poetry, it extends to other genres and media: drama (August Strindberg); the novel (Huysmans, Sologub); painting (Gustave Moreau and Odilon Redon); and music (Claude Debussy). In addition to influencing many Modernist writers (T. S. Eliot, Marcel Proust, James Joyce, Gertrude Stein, William Faulkner, Eugene O'Neill, etc.), with its exploration of alternative modes of consciousness, Symbolism also anticipates the Surrealist movement of early 20th century.

Major Authors

Revised: May 21, 2003

Contact: Prof. Christine Roth or Cary Henson