"Fin De Siecle" is French for "end of the century" but I've only ever known the phrase to refer to one century in particular, the 19th. The reason for this is because in a boring subject like history, the historians themselves need to dramatize things sometimes. The hope is that these poetic epithets will make it all seem more interesting so that people will actually read the history books. Everyone can relate to the high school teacher that tries to get the students engaged in the material by involving them in it, well these pretty phrases scattered throughout history books are just the writer's attempt at engaging the reader. A phrase like "fin de siecle" also makes for a cute and easy to swallow title for a class. It's eye catching enough to get a student looking over the class schedule to take a second look, maybe even read the synopsis underneath. I was once such a student and fell in love with the idea of reading such tales as "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" and "Dracula" as class text books. It's every young historian's dream to be able to read something interesting in a field where the majority of texts are a mixed bag, some might be easy to read for a while and then get so bogged down in trivialities that the reader throws the book down in disgust because he doesn't care what color of dress was popular in Boston in the 1760s. Other books might start off densely boring and then halfway through shout out "Got you!" and launch into some extremely intelligent and well thought out arguments. Others are garbage, they offer no new insights and all the facts contained therein could have been written just as easily in a half-page encyclopedia entry somewhere.
Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Strange Case of..." was one of those books that actually got me excited to read. I even started it before the semester began, I remember reading the first couple pages over winter break. It was a popular trick (and still is) in my family to buy gifts for people for holidays or birthdays (or whatever) that they needed. It's a nice gesture, but some of the meaning of the "gift" is lost when you get a book that isn't for you, really, it's for a class. It always made me feel old for whatever reason. A gift, to me, implies some sort of decadence not present in anything that would fall into a "need" category. I almost felt like I got a set of tires, while it is a nice gesture, it's kind of a hollow gift. Anyway, these are the thoughts that were going through my head as I was reading those first couple pages of "The Strange Case of..." and the book lost its appeal. I didn't finish it and I sold it back at the end of the semester for a couple dollars that I undoubtedly consumed through my lungs or through my liver.
After watching a British television mini-series entitled "Jekyll" I feel that I've now come to fully understand the book. If the reader will remain with me for a moment, I'll explain. I don't mean that I fully comprehend everything that the book and Mr. Stevenson have to say on the subject of dualities in Man, just that I understand enough. The book was written at a time when things were, to put it as simply as possible, crazy. The world was just getting used to the idea of "Science" and finally shaking those last yokes of oppression hung round its neck. Of course, there's still oppression in the world but it's no longer quite as systemic, not quite as world-widespread. This might help you to understand what this time in history was like: "The Strange Case of..." was written in 1886, I won't get into the Edison/a bunch of other people debate, but the incandescent light bulb was invented and "perfected" in or around 1880. By 1886 in London, magic glass bulbs were replacing candles. 10,000 years of humanity (genetically close enough) and the best way to light your way through the dark was with fire, now electricity runs through a wire and lights a glass bulb. Strange, indeed.
There's another phrase that I learned in that freshman class, "Belle Epoque" which is more French, meaning "beautiful age/era". The idea here is that these wonderful new inventions and gadgets that were making life easier, combined with advancements in the scientific understanding of the world, would never end. It was beautiful because there was hope that the darkest times were behind humanity. These new advancements would propel us past suffering and pain as the medical community was coming up with new ways of curing the sick and healing the wounded. As I have personally come to understand the idea, "belle epoque" is a misnomer. I think of the first part of the 20th century as an extension of the 19th, the "belle epoque" is the twilight of the 19th century before the innocence of hope was lost with World War I. With this understanding, the "fin de siecle" never happened until almost 30 years after 1886, when war broke out in Europe over the murder of an Archduke. There were a lot of high hopes around this time, but also fear of taking things too far. "The Strange Case of..." and many other books about science gone awry, penned then and since, deal with this interplay of hope and fear. I would even make the argument that L.L. Cool J's flagship movie "Deep Blue Sea" is merely an inheritor of the strange and simple truths found in the legacy of the works by people like Mr. Stevenson and Bram Stoker and Jules Verne and Mary Shelley and others, the list could go on indefinitely with books about Man versus himself, ultimately what Man is capable of whether through his actions or works.
Dr. Jekyll is just some guy, he wanted to see where he could take things, how far he could go. Mr. Hyde is merely Dr. Jekyll's own demon that he created in the pursuit of perfection. Dr. Jekyll was pursuing happiness when he slipped up and made a mistake. Something went wrong in his potion, and forever after he had to deal with it. Forever after the 20th century, we have to deal with what happened. When the Archduke was shot and the powder keg in Europe blew up, the "belle epoque" faded to night and the entire world could never go back. If there were a moment when the modern age was born, where innocence was gone, it'd be the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, as if the virginity of the world were lost. In that analogy, WWII would be the birth of the bad son and then the father started drinking and was never home during the cold-war and just general shitty things happen to the maiden until she dies young. Apparently, it was the cancer. Then, when Dr. Jekyll drank his potion, he too, could never go back.
My favorite author/thinker, Kahlil Gibran, said "He who would share your pleasure but not your pain shall lose the key to one of the seven gates of Paradise." The past, including every one of everyone's demons, is an integral part of who they are. A person is like a diamond, at first they're rough and unsure and then, as they go through the whole process of life, start to shine and the many facets find definition. At the end of the ordeal, though some cuts aren't perfect and the shine on the one side is duller than the other, it's beautiful when taken in its entirety. Mr. Hyde is a stylized and fictionalized facet on the face of the diamond of everyone. The cold and serious events of the 20th century is the factual gritty facet of the history of the world. Stepping back, looking at the diamond as a whole, that's what everything is about. It's important to take the good with the bad. Seeing the beauty in the entirety, not a specific set of individual sides to the whole story, is what I've been driving at. In order to embrace Mr. Stevenson's character fully, I say, you need to embrace both sides. The twisted Mr. Hyde and the good Dr. Jekyll are part of each and every person.
In this new year I think it's important to embrace the dark side. It's good to be conscious of the darker aspects of reality and exercise what needs exercised. There's a difference between the decadent and grotesque evil of heads rolling in the streets and the simpler dark side that might be as innocent as giving in to a craving. In the new year I want to be conscious of my past, of where I've come from and where my world has come from. I know who I am, it's merely a matter of recognition, of actually acknowledging that person and tipping my hat.
Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde is just some guy, polarized in fiction, illustrating the simple truth in life that we're all just animals. Those base needs and desires can be pushed aside but they're never going to go away. It's important to give in to some desires so that the pressure doesn't get too great, so that Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde doesn't become some guy, polarized in real life, illustrating the need for a slice of decadence every now and then. I think of myself as a bit of a libertine because I know that some hedonism is necessary to keep the elasticity in life needed to prevent a snap, to keep myself whole so that I don't split like Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde. A snap is violent, elasticity prevents that violent backlash that leads to war and pain and suffering. The elasticity will help keep the diamond intact, and who knows, maybe exercising some of those vices will lead to a more polished whole some time in the future.
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