A sensational success when first published in 1893, the violent hatreds Degeneration roused among younger artists followed the author for the rest of his life. The book pursues a medicalised examination of some of the literary and artistic movements of the period. However, though taking inspiration from Cesare Lombroso's examination of genius and insanity, and to a lesser degree of criminal man, Nordau's language is anything but scientific. Rude...