If you're starting w/Against Nature, you might want to go with The Picture of Dorian Gray next, because Against Nature crops up in the narrative (in fact, Wilde plagiarizes it).
Elaine Showalter's Daughters of Decadence is a nice introduction to women in the Anglo-American Decadent tradition; see also Vernon Lee's (pseud. Violet Paget) Hauntings and Other Fantastic Tales and, if you can get your hands on sufficient copies, George Egerton's (pseud. Mary Chavelita Dunne Bright) Keynotes and Discords.
Karl Beckson's Aesthetes and Decadents is a helpful little reader on the Decadent movement in the UK, with an emphasis on poetry. It would be a useful starter if you're looking to read more poetry of the period (e.g., Dowson, "Michael Field," Lionel Johnson, etc.). I haven't seen The Decadent Reader, which focuses on the French Decadent movement, but it looks interesting.
At some point, your group should probably read at least a smidgen of Walter Pater's The Renaissance, which was hugely influential; you'll see quite a few echoes of it in Dorian Gray. posted by thomas j wise at 3:45 PM on May 23, 2008 [3 favorites has favorites]
And, though he was a bit of a latecomer, you really should check out Baron Corvo for fun.
(Story of the Eye, though definitely lower-case-d "decadent" (and a worthwhile read), has nothing to do with the Decadent Movement. Neither does Sacher-Masoch, actually.) posted by neroli at 4:45 PM on May 23, 2008
The poetry of Arthur Symons is worth picking up, he was a key figure in the Decadent Movement, a sampling of his poetry would provide a nice jumping off point. Much of his poetry is available online if you do some searching. Link.
THE OPIUM-SMOKER
"I am engulfed, and drown deliciously
Soft music like a perfume, and sweet light
Golden with audible colours exquisite,
Swathe me with cerements for eternity.
Times is no more. I pause and yet I flee.
A million ages wrap me round with night.
I drain a milion ages of delight.
I hold the future in my memory.
Also, I have this garret which I rent,
This bed of straw, and this that was a chair,
This worn-out body like a tattered tent,
This crust, of which the rats have eaten part,
This pipe of opium; rage, remorse, despair;
This soul at pawn and this delirious heart."
Arthur Symons
(1865-1945) posted by Fizz at 4:53 PM on May 23, 2008
The Torture Garden - Octave Mirbeau for your turn of the century rotten.com The Immoralist - Andre Gide for some Orientalist pedophilia
Took a nice class on the Decadence once. Class requirements went like: "one xx page paper, two x page papers, one absinthe tasting." posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 5:20 PM on May 23, 2008
This article by Dennis Denisoff should be useful, as might a couple of course listings: this and this (pdf). Don't ignore the important Russian decadents: Sologub, early Bryusov, and to some extent Merezhkovsky and his wife Gippius (their apartment/salon was Decadence Central for Saint Petersburg). posted by languagehat at 5:45 PM on May 23, 2008
(I'm a bit confused about how you could know enough about decadent literature to want to start a book club for it, but can only come up with one book to start it off?) posted by jayder at 5:53 PM on May 23, 2008
La-Bas by Huysmans Salome by Wilde, with illustrations by Aubrey Beardsley posted by milarepa at 6:16 PM on May 23, 2008
Beardsley's unfinished novel Under The Hill is my favourite slice of English-language decadence. posted by misteraitch at 11:05 PM on May 23, 2008
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Portrait of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
Venus in Furs, by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch
Madame Bovary by Flaubert
posted by jabberjaw at 3:25 PM on May 23, 2008