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Perfume and Olfaction

This chapter explores the topic of olfaction and perfume in decadent culture by arguing that many decadent authors styled themselves as olfactifs—cultivated individuals with a refined sense of smell. They celebrated fragrance both in their personal lives and in their writings, where the odors of perfume, incense, and tobacco emerge as the dominant olfactory keynotes of decadence. The chapter opens with a discussion of smoking and notes its various olfactory meanings for both male and female decadent writers, before considering incense, perfume use, and fashion, including the positive and negative attitudes toward perfume wearing in the mid- to late Victorian era. The final section focuses on flower fragrance in an urban environment and examines poems by Arthur Symons and Laurence Binyon to tease out some of the complex relations between decadence, perfume, artifice, and nature prevalent at this time.