Pick Daniel

In the Latin Quarter of Paris, Trilby O'Ferrall - graceful, charming and innocent - is working as an artist's model. Her ingenuous nature makes her the perfect prey for the cruel magnetism of the demonic musician Svengali, under whose spell she falls. Using hypnotic powers Svengali shapes her into a virtuoso singer and soon she becomes Europe's most captivating soprano. But her golden voice, and even her life, will become fatally tied to him. With its thrilling plot and legendary villain, Trilby caused a sensation when it appeared in 1894, spawning songs, shoes and, most famously, the Trilby hat. Yet it is also a fascinating portrayal of its times, holding up a mirror to fin de siècle obsessions with sexuality, mesmerism and the occult.

This book investigates the specific conception and descent of a language of ‘degeneration’ from 1848–1918, with particular reference to France, Italy and England. Daniel Pick shows how in the refraction and wake of evolution and naturalism, new images and theories of atavism, ‘degenerescence’ and socio-biological decline emerged in European culture and politics. He indicates the wide cultural and political importance of the idea of degeneration, whilst showing that the notion could mean different things at different times in different places.