A PECULIAR MAN?THE DANDYISM OF

GEORGE MOORE

5th International George Moore ConferenceNUI Galway, Moore Hall, Mayo, Coole

Park, Galway: June 3-6 2011

Dr. Melanie Grundmann

WHAT IS A DANDY?

vanityegotism

nonconformity

sarcasm

wit

ambiguous sexuality

ennui

estrangement

aestheticism

impertinence

WHAT IS A DANDY?

dilettantism

oppositionalbehavior

fashionable appearance

GEORGE MOORE AS A DANDY

ELOQUENCE & WIT

AMBIGUOUS SEXUALITY

AESTHETICISM

ESTRANGEMENT

OPPOSITIONAL BEHAVIOUR

GEORGE MOORE AS A DANDY

J.-A. Barbey d‘Aurevilly: „Of Dandyism and Of George Brummell“ (1845)

Charles Baudelaire: „The dandy“ (1863)

ÉCRIVAIN-DANDYS

Barbey d‘Aurevilly

ÉCRIVAIN-DANDYS

CharlesBaudelaire

ÉCRIVAIN-DANDYS

Robert deMontesquiou

ÉCRIVAIN-DANDYS

EugèneSue

ÉCRIVAIN-DANDYS

ThéophileGautier

ÉCRIVAIN-DANDYS

OscarWilde

ÉCRIVAIN-DANDYS

Stendhal

GEORGE MOORE, A DANDY?

MANET ON MOORE

„somewhat eccentric

appearance“

SUSAN MITCHELL ON MOORE

„man of fashion“

NANCY CUNARD ON MOORE

„smartly dressed: a top hat, a white or grey waistcoat, a

pair of dove-coloured gloves in

one hand“

„quiet, well-cut if sometimes rather crumpled, darkish and of good

quality. Often, to be sure, he had a rich silk tie on, and sometimes a very high, very stiff white collar.

Above all, what a personality there was in those slow-moving, critical,

appraising hands, often in long, soft shirt-cuffs done up so tightly.“

GEORGE BRYAN ,BEAU‘ BRUMMELL (1778-1840)

„quiet, well-cut if sometimes rather crumpled, darkish and of good

quality. Often, to be sure, he had a rich silk tie on, and sometimes a

very high, very stiff white collar. Above all, what a

personality there was in those slow-moving, critical, appraising hands,

often in long, soft shirt-cuffs done up so tightly.“

THE HIGH ART OF TYING A TIE

„quiet, well-cut if sometimes rather crumpled, darkish and of good

quality. Often, to be sure, he had a rich silk tie on, and sometimes a very high, very stiff white collar.

Above all, what a personality there was in those slow-moving,

critical, appraising hands, often in long, soft shirt-cuffs done up so

tightly.“

BAUDELAIRE ON DANDYISM

„Contrary to what many thoughtless people seem to

believe, dandyism is not even an excessive delight in

clothes and material elegance. For the perfect

dandy, these things are no more than the symbol of

the aristocratic superiority of his mind.“

„hours were spent at the tailors considering different patterns; at the hosies turning over scarves,

neckties and shirts of many descriptions, frilled and plain [...] to be ridiculous has always been

mon petite luxe.“George Moore

GEORGE MOORE AS A DANDY

ELOQUENCE & WIT

AMBIGUOUS SEXUALITY

AESTHETICISM

ESTRANGEMENT

OPPOSITIONAL BEHAVIOUR

NANCY CUNARD ON MOORE

„no one spoke at all like him, no one else‘s mind

worked like his in all its paradoxical,

individual Irish brilliance“

NANCY CUNARD ON MOORE

„whatever he told, he told with style“

ELOQUENCE & WIT

„if there were nobody to shock, our trade would come to an end.“

the dandy‘s doctrine is „the pleasure of causing surprise in others, and the proud satisfaction of

never showing any oneself.“

GEORGE MOORE AS A DANDY

ELOQUENCE & WIT

AMBIGUOUS SEXUALITY

AESTHETICISM

ESTRANGEMENT

OPPOSITIONAL BEHAVIOUR

AMBIGUOUS SEXUALITY

celibacy

“Woman is the opposite of the dandy“ artificial

spiritualsuicide

self-control

AMBIGUOUS SEXUALITY

„(dandyism is) a kind of cult of the ego which can still survive

the pursuit of that form of happiness to be found in others, in woman for example; which

can even survive what are called illusions.“

GEORGE MOORE AS A DANDY

ELOQUENCE & WIT

AMBIGUOUS SEXUALITY

AESTHETICISM

ESTRANGEMENT

OPPOSITIONAL BEHAVIOUR

AESTHETICISM

„The work of the great artist is himself.“

Dandies „have no other status but that of cultivating the idea

of beauty in their own persons.“

GEORGE MOORE AS A DANDY

ELOQUENCE & WIT

AMBIGUOUS SEXUALITY

AESTHETICISM

ESTRANGEMENT

OPPOSITIONAL BEHAVIOUR

ESTRANGEMENT

„they all share the same characteristic of opposition and revolt; all are representatives of what is best in

human pride, of that need, which is too rare in the modern generation, to

combat and destroy triviality.“

ESTRANGEMENT

Baudelaire‘s view on dandyism as „the idea of establishing a new kind of

aristocracy, all the more difficult to break down because established on the most

precious, the most indestructible faculties, on the divine gifts that neither work nor money

can give. Dandyism is the last flicker of heroism in decadent ages.“

ESTRANGEMENT

„the snob is now the ark that floats triumphant over the democratic wave; the

faith of the old world reposes in his breast, and he shall proclaim it when the

waters have subsided.“

„But alas! the rising tide of democracy, which spreads everywhere and reduces

everything to the same level, is daily carrying away these last champions of human pride, and submerging, in the waters of oblivion, the

last traces of these remarkable myrmidons.“

ESTRANGEMENT

„Here in France, dandies are becoming rarer and rarer, whereas amongst our neighbours in

England the state of society and the constitution [...] will, for a long time yet, leave

room for the heirs of Sheridan, Brummell and Byron, always assuming that men worthy

of them come forward.“

GEORGE MOORE AS A DANDY

ELOQUENCE & WIT

AMBIGUOUS SEXUALITY

AESTHETICISM

ESTRANGEMENT

OPPOSITIONAL BEHAVIOUR

OPPOSITIONAL BEHAVIOUR

„It is, above all, the burning desire to create a personal form

of originality, within the external limits of social conventions.“

OPPOSITIONAL BEHAVIOUR

„The point has already been made, but we will not tire of

repeating it: the thing that really makes a dandy is independence.“

OPPOSITIONAL BEHAVIOUR

„one of the consequences of Dandyism, one of its principal characteristics - or rather its character in more general

terms - is always to produce the unexpected. For this the mind that toils

under the yoke of logical rules is unprepared.“

OPPOSITIONAL BEHAVIOUR

„Dandyism plays games with the rules while continuing to respect them. It

suffers from their constricting effects and takes its revenge, tolerating them all the while. It invokes them even as it breaks free from them. It governs them and is

governed by them in its turn.“

OPPOSITIONAL BEHAVIOUR

„Nothing attracts me more than an

independent mind.“

OPPOSITIONAL BEHAVIOUR

„my thoughts do not move among

commonplaces.“

OPPOSITIONAL BEHAVIOUR

„I was born, I live, I shall die a peculiar man. I couldn‘t be

commonplace were I to try.“

Thank you!

www.dandysme.eu