A semiotic approach to the pathology of literary Décadence
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Lennart Brand
Abstract
The article attempts to explain literary Décadence, a literary phenomenon of the mid- to late-nineteent century, by applying analytical categories to it that are derived from Umwelt theory. Having outlined the theoretical approach, which centres upon the concept of Lebenswelt, it is applied it to Hugo von Hofmannsthal's Ein Brief. I shall show that what is presented in this text is the collapse of the Lebenswelt as well as an attempt to rebuild it through conscious efforts. My claim that this is precisely what lies at the root of Décadence as a literary phenomenon will be put to a test in the subsequent attempt to explain essential features of Décadent writing.
© 2008 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, D-10785 Berlin
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- Looking behind the symbol: Mythic algebra, numbers, and the illusion of linear sequence
- Role conflict as an interactional resource in the multimodal emergence of expert identity
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- The interpretation of verbo-pictorial images in billboards and store banners in Jordanian society: An experimental study
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- Signification and alterity in Emmanuel Lévinas
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- Fashion as communication: A semiotic analysis of fashion on ‘Sex and the City’
- Memes versus signs: On the use of meaning concepts about nature and culture
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