- List of Illustrations*
- Introduction
- 1. The Dialectic of Shame and Grace
- Perfect Wagnerites
- Christianity as Paradis Artificiel
- Verlaine’s Amour
- In Praise of Shame
- 2. Huysmans Mystérique
- Unconscious Unction
- Conversion Hysteria
- Christianity by the Back Door
- Refined Thebaids
- 3. Pater Dolorosa
- Pater Noster
- Renaissance and Resurrection
- Virgin Marius
- Monkish Miracles
- 4. The Temptation of Saint Oscar
- Christ for Christ’s Sake
- Ritualism and Dandyism
- Seduction and the Scarlet Woman
- The Confessional Unmasked
- 5. Priests and Acolytes
- Fragrant Prayers
- Father Silverpoints
- Pio Corvo
- Saint Oscar Redivivus
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Index
- * Illustrations
- The Wagnerites, by Aubrey Beardsley
- The Ascension of Saint Rose of Lima, from Aubrey Beardsley’s Under the Hill (1895)
- Engraving of Charcot at the Salpêtrière
- Drawing of Saint Philip, from Charcot and Richer’s Les Démoniaques dans l’Art (1887)
- The Crucifixion (1512–1516), by Matthias Grünewald (detail)
- Salomé Dancing before Herod (1876), by Gustave Moreau
- “Height of Fashion” (1866), from Punch
- “Selling Off!” (1851), from Punch
- John and Salomé, by Aubrey Beardsley, from Oscar Wilde’s Salomé (1892)
- “A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing” (1877), from Punch
Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library
I Tatti Renaissance Library
Loeb Classical Library
Murty Classical Library of India