The Poetics of Decadence

A reconsideration of Chinese decadent (tuifei) poetry which argues that this poetry is not a marginal trend but rather a vital part of the Chinese literary tradition. This intertextual study of decadent (tuifei) poetry demystifies it by using tuifei as a critical term and by situating it within a conventional system of signs. The Poetics of Decadence focuses on four major poets during the Southern Dynasties (420-869) and Late Tang Periods (826-904) when decadent poetry was produced in great quan