A word used to express a generalized form of anxiety about a decline in cultural standards. It has been in use in Europe since the Middle Ages, but the fear of declining standards it names can be traced back to ancient times. Plato, for instance, wrote that men in earlier times were better and nearer to the gods than present-day men. As such, decadence often manifests itself as the âdarkâ underside of myths of golden ages, the representation of past eras as somehow better than the present moment, and always carries with it a certain anguish that such great times will never be seen again. This example points to one of the key characteristics of decadence, namely the tendency to position the present as inferior to the past and combine that with an urgent call for a restoration of those better days. One saw a striking example of this in Donald Trumpâs 2016 presidential campaign slogan âMake America Great Againâ. Decadence as an aesthetic first crystallized in the latter part of the nineteenth century in Europe. In the first instance decadence was, in spite of its subject matter, which tends to recall ancient myths and supernatural tales, a kind of avant-garde, or modernism inasmuch as it marked a break with the established aesthetic of its own time. Indeed, in his book on postmodernism, Jameson, Fredric describes decadence as a kind of premonition. The first use of the word âdecadenceâ in this aesthetic and, more importantly, approving sense occurred in ThĂ©ophile Gautierâs 1868 preface to Charles Baudelaireâs collection of poems Les Fleurs du mal (1857). However the work that has come to be regarded as the quintessential example of decadence is Joris-Karl Huysmanâs Ă Rebours (1884), translated as Against Nature (1926), which interestingly enough is also regarded as one of the more important examples of naturalism. A veritable encyclopedia of decadent taste, ranging from literature to cuisine, Ă Rebours is simultaneously a rejection of romanticism and anti-romanticism, thus creating a paradoxical space in which something radically new could emerge. Despite its frequently pessimistic tone, the author maintained that it was a hopeful work. Decadence was also a crucial concern for Nietzsche, Friedrich, although in his case it was something that philosophy had to figure out how to overcome. He depicts decadence as a form of self-deception and an ever-present danger; as such it cannot ever be eradicated. One must instead learn to learn from it as one learns about health from the experience of sickness. Its most important effect is the confusion it creates between cause and effect---consequences are made to appear as causes by decadence. Wagnerâs operas were, for Nietzsche, the perfect embodiment of this way of thinking about decadence. Further Reading: M. Calinescu Five Faces of Modernity (1987).