Bohemian Influences in The Yellow Book

The Yellow Book became synonymous with art and literature that was subversive to conventional styles and cultural values of the fin-de-siècle. In Victorian England, there was a growing anxiety over French influence in art and literature as many believed it was a threat to national identity. Conservative Victorians thought the French were indecent and immoral because of how freely they embraced “forbidden” topics such as sexuality (Desmarais 73). Consequentially, mainstream British art and literature shunned multicultural works that did not represent the beliefs of the empire (74). Seeing as it represented non-conventional values, The Yellow Book demonstrated a deviation from this nationalistic belief and prejudice against the French. In doing so it published French texts and content with visible French influences, like “The Bohemian Girl” and “Souvenir de Paris.”

Since The Yellow Book published a wide variety of material, there were some pieces that did have traditional literary styles and content, which is reflective of the attitudes and views in actual bohemian communities. Members of the bourgeois class often joined literary circles, creating a “cultural democracy” as they sought new innovative ideas (Gluck 15). While this seems contradictory to bohemianism’s aims to stand apart from the bourgeois, it was impossible for bohemia to ignore the harsh realities of class and economic inequalities. The fin-de-siècle bohemians were able to envision the new culture they wanted to create in addition to acknowledging the bourgeois class should be able to access art and literature (14).

The Yellow Book can be thought of as a sort of bohemian print community. When The Yellow Book was first conceived by Harland, he had not intended for it to start a movement, but rather to be a collection of excellent art and literature that resisted the boredom and redundancy of other periodicals at the time (Beckson 57). Co-founder Aubrey Beardsley explained in a private letter that the idea behind The Yellow Book was to publish the best writers and artists whose work was considered non-conventional or too provocative for traditional magazines (58). The periodical became known for its strange outlook on art and life, contributing to a refreshing sense of modernity as the decade moved out of the conservative Victorian era and into the age of realism while struggling against the strong influence of French decadence and impressionism. (Weintraub 136). The Yellow Book is comparable to French bohemia in the way it did not seek to start an outright social or political movement, but wanted provide a space to discuss culture, literature, and art. The periodical ended up doing so in the way by publishing a wide variety of literary and artistic material which went on to characterize it as an experimental and provocative hub for “new art” and “new literature” (Turner).