Journal article
Decadence Today: Volutes, Unfurling Flowers, and Decolonial Excesses in Shola von Reinhold’s LOTE and Thuy On’s Decadence
Zeitschrift für Anglistik und Amerikanistik, Vol.73(1), pp.91-105
03/26/2025
DOI: 10.1515/zaa-2025-2009
Abstract
This essay examines contemporary depictions of decadent aesthetic excess in Shola von Reinhold’s
(2020) and Thuy On’s
(2021). It posits decolonial motifs of excess as a response to male
decadence, motifs which also serve as a new departure for contemporary decadent studies. Shola von Reinhold’s novel undermines both
male models of decadence and contemporary forms of white, heteronormative forms of oppression by reclaiming adornment and beauty from a perspective that engages with Blackness, queerness, and transness, embodied particularly in the non-linear figure of the volute. In On’s case, her playful poetics also offer a vision of excess that challenges inherited models. The decadence of
is one in which the woman of color is not an exoticized object of poetic fascination but instead able to define excess and beauty on her own terms. Granting these writers the same space in decadence studies is part of the undisciplining of the field.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Decadence Today: Volutes, Unfurling Flowers, and Decolonial Excesses in Shola von Reinhold’s LOTE and Thuy On’s Decadence
- Creators
- Cherrie Kwok - University of Virginia
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Zeitschrift für Anglistik und Amerikanistik, Vol.73(1), pp.91-105
- DOI
- 10.1515/zaa-2025-2009
- ISSN
- 0044-2305
- eISSN
- 2196-4726
- Publisher
- De Gruyter
- Number of pages
- 15
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 03/26/2025
- Academic Unit
- English; Center for Social Science Innovation
- Record Identifier
- 9984944731702771
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