Mal du siècle, Le. The spiritual sickness of Romanticism. The Romantic self felt displaced, exiled; the mal du siècle was the manifestation of an alienated subjectivity seeking to unite with something greater than itself. It produced disillusionment, melancholy, and a weariness with life; but also feelings of violence and aggression. According to Chateaubriand in Le Génie du christianisme, the malady arose on account of the discrepancy between the true object of human desire, which was the infinite, and the terrestrial goals which human beings could actually achieve. But it was also a condition which testified to the uncertainties of the new world ushered into being by the Revolution. In the case of Chateaubriand it sprang, at least in part, from the concerns of an aristocracy which had been displaced from its leading role. For the later generation of Vigny, Musset, and Quinet, the experience was different and was related to the loss of hope represented by the collapse of the imperial dream. Dissatisfaction with the present involved not only melancholy but also impatience with the world as it was, with the obstacles which were placed against the fulfilment of desire. The mal du siècle was the most serious symptom of the general Romantic crisis in belief and reflected a broader quest for meaning and purpose in the universe.
— Ceri Crossley
