The Link between Symbolism, Decadence and Realism

Abstract

The literary world has over the centuries been engaged in a never ending debate on the rote of literary art in man s life Should literature or literary art for that matter teach or instruct on the one hand, or give pleasure and amusement on the other or should it do both? This paper is an attempt to join that debate on the side of the second option. It will seek to examine literary movements such as Symbolism. Decadence and Realism in an attempt to establish their nexus which is aethesticism because these movements have been, and are still concerned with the nature of art, life and of ideas