There's an alarm clock set to buzz at eternity's gate, Midnight 1900. In probing the malaise that hit Europe circa 1881, psychologists would have us believe the world grew despondent.
"Sympathetic Magic"
Paul Cameron Brown
While science prospered, literature languished: and one of his own remarks, as to the desirability of a public and semi-official criticism of some great literary work, seems to suggest a reason for this intellectual malaise: "The public will take interest in this criticism; perhaps it will even take sides: it matters not, as its attention will be fixed on these interesting debates: it will talk about grammar and poetry: taste will be improved, and our aim will be fulfilled: out of that will come poets and grammarians."
"The Life of Napoleon I (Volumes, 1 and 2)"
John Holland Rose
A quarter of an hour sufficed to exasperate him with anxiety and physical malaise.
"The Nether World"
George Gissing