ABSTRACT
Paul Bourget's references to dilettantism in various critical and creative works exerted the most significant influence on the European fin-de-siecle conception of dilettantism. Dilettantism is not negation but a succession of temporary affirmations, prevented from becoming fixed by the dilettante's scepticism. The scepticism of dilettantism differs from previous forms of scepticism in its desire for affirmation. Bourget's initial use of the term 'dilettante' combines the pleasure of the original dilettanti with elements of the uses by Johann Wolfgang Goethe and Charles Baudelaire. Bourget's Essais de psychologic contemporaine was followed two years later in 1885 by Nouveaux essais de psychologie contemporaine, which contains essays on Dumas fils, Leconte de Lisle, the Goncourt brothers, Ivan Turgenev, and Henri-Frederic Amiel. The discussion of Bourget's initial conception of dilettantism and its interpretations has raised a number of questions about the affinities with other conceptions and the relationship between dilettantism and Decadence.
