George Moore and Decadent Antinatalism
Decadent literature of the fin de siècle drew substantial inspiration from Catholicism, but also was infused with much of the Schopenhauerian pessimism that animates antinatalism, an increasingly popular brand of philosophical pessimism that advocates the extinction of human life through a refusal t...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Johns Hopkins University Press
2023
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| In: |
Christianity & literature
Year: 2023, Volume: 72, Issue: 2, Pages: 154-173 |
| RelBib Classification: | CD Christianity and Culture KAH Church history 1648-1913; modern history KBF British Isles KDB Roman Catholic Church VA Philosophy |
| Further subjects: | B
Decadence
B George Moore B Irish novel B Catholicism B antinatalism |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Decadent literature of the fin de siècle drew substantial inspiration from Catholicism, but also was infused with much of the Schopenhauerian pessimism that animates antinatalism, an increasingly popular brand of philosophical pessimism that advocates the extinction of human life through a refusal to reproduce. Irish novelist George Moore's plays with the ideas of voluntary species extinction in his decadent novel Mike Fletcher (1889). Far from glorifying its antinatalist protagonist, however, I contend that Moore's novel ultimately demonstrates the horrific and pathetic consequences of a radically materialist philosophy divorced from a particularly Christian notion of life's inherent dignity. |
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| ISSN: | 2056-5666 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Christianity & literature
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1353/chy.2023.a904914 |