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This book traces a genealogy of political dandyism in literature. Dandies abstain from worldly affairs, and politics in particular. As an enigmatic figure, or a being of great eccentricity, it was the dandy that haunted the literary and cultural imagination of the nineteenth century. In fact, the dandy is often seen as a quintessential nineteenth-century figure. It was surprising, then, when at the beginning of the twenty-first century this figure returned from the past to an unexpected place: the very heart of European politics. Various so-called populist leaders were seen as political dandies. But how could that figure that was once known for its aversion towards politics all of a sudden become the protagonist of a new political paradigm? Or was the dandy perhaps always already part of a political imagination? This study charts the emergence of this political paradigm. From the dandy's first appearance to his latest resurrection, from Charles Baudelaire to Jean-François Lyotard, from dandy-insects to a dandy-Christ, this book follows his various guises and disguises.
List of contents
1. Introduction.- 2. The Dandy-Insect.- 3. Tumulte.- 4. Twilights.- 5. Of Dandies Dying.- 6. L'après dandysme.- 7. Senses of Community.- 8. Conclusion.
About the author
Geertjan de Vugt works for the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, The Netherlands. He obtained his PhD in Comparative Literature
cum laude from Tilburg University and was awarded the prize for Best Dissertation in the Humanities by the Society of Dutch Literature. He is the Dutch translator of Daniel Heller-Roazen's
The Enemy of All: Piracy and the Law of Nations and Thomas Macho's
Das Leben ist ungerecht.
Summary
This book traces a genealogy of political dandyism in literature. Dandies abstain from worldly affairs, and politics in particular. As an enigmatic figure, or a being of great eccentricity, it was the dandy that haunted the literary and cultural imagination of the nineteenth century. In fact, the dandy is often seen as a quintessential nineteenth-century figure. It was surprising, then, when at the beginning of the twenty-first century this figure returned from the past to an unexpected place: the very heart of European politics. Various so-called populist leaders were seen as political dandies. But how could that figure that was once known for its aversion towards politics all of a sudden become the protagonist of a new political paradigm? Or was the dandy perhaps always already part of a political imagination? This study charts the emergence of this political paradigm. From the dandy’s first appearance to his latest resurrection, from Charles Baudelaire to Jean-François Lyotard, from dandy-insects to a dandy-Christ, this book follows his various guises and disguises.
