Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-kwt9d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-13T09:31:06.195Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Two fin de siècles

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 July 2009

Abstract

Is the end of the 20th century comparable with the end of the 19th century, the so-called fin de siècle? To what extent are the cultural characterizations of that decade—for fin de siècle is first and foremost a cultural concept—applicable to our days? The answer to this question is not easy to give because there are similarities as well as dissimilarities. The central preoccupation of the fin de siècle however was the feeling of decadence, the idea that European civilization was past its prime and on to the end. This notion is not a characteristic of the present day's cultural climate and therefore there exists a fundamental difference between the two periods.

Information

Type
FOCUS—Two Fin de Siècles
Copyright
Copyright © Academia Europaea 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable