Absorption and Theatricality in the Staging of Contempt: Flaubert, Baudelaire, Huysmans

Drawing on two categories suggested by art historian Michael Fried – absorption and theatricality –, this article suggest a specification relative to how we feel and express a particular emotion: contempt. To better understand the distinction between absorbed and distanced contempt, and all the emotional consequences that ensue, three specific and contrasting examples taken from Flaubert, Baudelaire and Huysmans are analysed here. Keywords: contempt, emotions, Flaubert, Bovary, Baudelaire, Huysmans, dandyism.