On the Notion of Decadence in the FRG and France after 1945—with Examples by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Botho Strauß, and Richard Millet

Abstract

Since 1945, only a few intellectuals have used the concept of decadence for criticizing social, cultural, and political pathologies, but the term has gained importance and acquired new meanings in the last several years due to numerous crises. Especially the Euro crisis, globalization, the challenge of the project of a multicultural society, and the citizens’ loss of confidence in the political elite have to be mentioned here. The present chapter starts with an overview of the concept of decadence since the eighteenth century and then examines its relevance after 1945 in the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and France, which, according to a popular saying, can be regarded as the “motors of Europe.” Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s film Die Ehe der Maria Braun (The Marriage of Maria Braun, 1979) and two essays that created a big stir in the FRG and France, Botho Strauß’s “Anschwellender Bocksgesang” (“Goat Song Rising,” 1993) and Richard Millet’s Langue fantôme, suivi d’Eloge littéraire d’Anders Breivik (Phantom Language, Followed by Literary Praise of Anders Breivik, 2012), will provide concrete examples for the intellectual debate about decadence, all of which allude to the dwindling importance of Europe within the new postwar order.