Degeneration

1895

Truby King Collection CB 417 NT71 1895

London: William Heinemann

Max Nordau (1849-1923) was a Zionist leader and physician, who is best remembered for his book Entartung (Degeneration). The basic premise in this work was that society and human beings are degenerating, and that this degeneration – as specified by Nordau – is reflected in and influenced by art. King owned this English translation edition as early as 1895 (it is signed as such) and he has marked out various passages throughout. King was concerned about falling birth rates and poor mothering, the latter causing mental degeneration. ‘Good’ mothering was the key to arrest any decline; fit babies (read soldiers) the end-result. As he once remarked: ‘The destiny of the race is in the hands of the mothers.’