Au Lecteur

After two years of writing on the subject of the Gothic via 'The Realm of the Unreal', my readers have requested that I devote a separate journal to the literature of the Decadence...

And, of course, only too happy to oblige any mind as thoroughly poisoned as mine, I present 'A Portrait in Flesh.'

The curious, almost mutually parasitic, nature of the relationship between reader and writer is highlighted supremely in Decadent literature; to that end, expect a more personal set of observations from 'A Portrait in Flesh,' to contrast with the more academic concerns dealt with at 'The Realm of the Unreal.' My definition of 'Decadence,' though, similar to my definition of 'Gothic,' should be expected to be fairly wide-ranging: arbitrary, often academic definitions are much less important to me than the recognition of a collective ethos. To emphasize this distinction, I will be initiating this journal with two entries taken from 'The Realm of the Unreal,' one of which (The Picture of Dorian Gray) would appear on many lists of Decadent literature, whereas the other (Vathek) would appear on only a seldom few...

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