Jan Opolsk has primarily been viewed as an undistinguished hanger-on in the era of Czech literary decadence. Through close reading and detailed analysis of Opolsk 's prose, however, Peter Butler argues that, far from his reputation as a literary lackey, Opolsk is a master of sustained narrative irony and an accomplished writer in his own right. Beyond Decadence evaluates archival sources and private correspondence between Opolsk and other...