They knew all the right people, they took all the right pills. They threw outrageous parties, they paid heavenly bills. There were lines on the mirror, lines on her face. She pretended not to notice, she was caught up in the race. — Life in the Fast Lane Degenerates are not always criminals, prostitutes, anarchists, and pronounced lunatics; they are often authors and artists. ‘Degeneration’ by Max Nordau (1892) The French have an idiomatic phrase — “nostalgie pour la boue” – which means, roughly, “the yearning for the mud.” This compulsive “yearning” most often comes over people whose lives...