Christa Giles

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the will. Thus Schopenhauer posits a mechanistic existence
in which man moves from boredom to desire. The goal of
that desire, if attained, proves illusory, and if unattained,
results in suffering and anguish. Inevitably man relapses
into ennui and the cycle recommences. (Obviously, what is
being highlighted here are the aspects of Schopenhauer’s
work which directly or indirectly influence Wilde’s and
Huysmans’ perception of the function of art.) According to
Wilde, ˝Schopenhauer has analysed the pessimism which
characterises modern thought.˝ And Huysmans often refers
to Schopenhauer in his earlier work. In A Vau-l’Eau,
Folantin comes to the conclusion that
Schopenhauer is right . . . Man’s existence
oscillates like a pendulum between suffering
and ennui; nor is it worthwhile trying to
accelerate or retard the balance wheel; the
only thing to do is to cross your arms and try
to sleep. 497
Only in art, maintained Schopenhauer, can one be freed
momentarily from desire through disinterested
contemplation. Therefore meaning is derived not from
nature but solely from man –he creates meaning in the
form of art. When Wilde wrote that ˝every work of art is
the conversion of an idea into an image,˝ 498 he encapsulated
the concept of a decorative, symbolic art, an art which was