Amuletic Aesthetics and the Fascination of American Decadence

Abstract:Reading Harriet Prescott Spofford’s short story “The Amber Gods” (1860) alongside Charles Chesnutt’s “Dave’s Neckliss” (1889) (an example of decadent regionalism), this essay argues that, in both employing ornamental style and incorporating the imagery of enchanted ornament in their writing, Spofford and Chesnutt structure their stories around the aesthetics of the amulet, a species of magical jewelry meant to protect against the evil eye. This appropriation of amuletic aesthetics works to fascinate readers, arresting their attention and pulling them out of the flow of linear, homogenous time. Decadent style offered late nineteenth-century writers a powerful tool of cultural critique, one that used the fascinating power of lush ornament to resist the logic of historical progress.