Luxury and horror. Some precious objects from fin-de-siecle literature

Due to sociological and aesthetical factors, the description of precious bi belots and trifles becomes a recurrent motif in decadent and symbolist nove ls. But behind their seductive appearance, these objects often conceal a mo rtal content--hence their designation in this paper as objets doubles. Thro ugh their moral content, these objects carry a criticism of late nineteenth -century expansionist capitalism and, specifically, of the belief that weal th can give meaning and order to reality. They also function as synecdoches of fin-de-siecle literature itself, marked by a simultaneous fascination w ith luxury and evil.