Warning: This book is not by a French author!
Studies of Death by Count Eric Stenbock (pictured) was one of the first works of Decadence I purchased. I hadn’t yet become taken by the movement when I did. My motive was that Halloween was approaching, and I wanted to read ghost stories and tales of horror from 19th Century authors. As mentioned in my post about Where to Start, this slender collection of short stories is a wonderful entree into Decadent fiction. While only one of the stories satisfied my Halloween itch, the collection went a long way in hooking me on Decadent fiction.
The first study of death is “Hylas”, an imagistic combination of homoeroticism and art appreciation with the gentle pacing of a reverie and ends with a singular image. “Narcissus” leverages its title myth symbolistically but takes a decided twist in its unfolding. Meanwhile, “The True Story of a Vampire” is fascinating not only as a gothic tale but as a pre-Dracula vampire story.
The plots and narratives of the stories are reminiscent of fairy tales, which is odd because the subject matter is anything but fairy tale-ish. Despite this consistent style and the recurring theme of death, each story is quite unique from the others. Across them all, Stenbock proves himself a gifted wordsmith.
Studies of Death was also one of my first exposures to the lurid biographies common among Decadent writers. Stenbock’s life was very much like that of a character in a Decadent novel: he was fabulously wealthy, effete, erudite, homosexual, and a dabbler in the occult. He kept snakes as pets, treated a life-sized doll as his son, and died in his thirties due - naturally enough - to opium abuse and alcoholism.
The Snuggly Books edition comes as a delightful-to-the-feel hardcover (or paperback) that reproduces the original edition’s cover art, albeit in bright yellow.
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