Berman traced modern antiliberal rebellion from Romantic decadence to totalitarianism

Evidence

The spirit of rebellion that followed the French Revolution led in the nineteenth century to an interest in crime and decadence—in works such as Dostoevsky’s The Devils (1871–1872) and Baudelaire’s Les fleurs du mal (1857)—or what Berman calls “the rebellion that begins with freedom and ends with crime.” In time, the antiliberal impulse was developed in thinkers such as Nietzsche and taken up in the totalitarian political theories of the age, characterized by notions of purity, sanctification through death, and submission to a strong leader standing in for the now absent God. — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 122

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Berman traces Islamism to a literary genealogy of antiliberal decadence. — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 122; Bureaucratic chaos and anti-Western irrationalism emotionally prepared Europe for totalitarianism — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 626; Elite avant-garde rejection of liberal hypocrisy enabled attraction to totalitarian movements (+5 more)
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Berman traces Islamism to a literary genealogy of antiliberal decadence. — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 122; Bureaucratic chaos and anti-Western irrationalism emotionally prepared Europe for totalitarianism — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 626; Elite avant-garde rejection of liberal hypocrisy enabled attraction to totalitarian movements (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Berman traces Islamism to a literary genealogy of antiliberal decadence. #expands (0.95) — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 122