preface

Chapter 7.
The avant-garde of that era
Chapter 8.
The celebrity of that era
Chapter 9.
The Breakers
Chapter 10.
I accuse
Chapter 11.
The Last Rose of Summer

A must-know history of beauty, hope, and madness.

A beautiful era, never in the history of mankind has there been such a wonderful name.
Indeed, this era was the last nostalgia of the royal family and the nobility, and a time of exhilarating hope for the emerging bourgeoisie growing up under the Second Industrial Revolution and capitalism.
But behind the beautiful name, there was madness and ugliness that went hand in hand with it.


Montmartre in Paris was where Impressionist painters and Symbolist poets stayed up all night talking about romance, and where Picasso, in his unknown days, nurtured his love and ambition. But it was also where the Paris Commune fighters shed blood and disappeared.
It was during this era that Sarah Bernhardt and Oscar Wilde created their own splendid gossip and Victorian-Edwardian England reached its zenith, but it was also during this era that anarchist terrorism, fueled by anger and hatred toward capitalism, ran rampant and Marxism, which sought to overturn the world through class struggle, was born.
In Asia, while the European powers were busy expanding their colonies, only Japan succeeded in reforming itself through the Meiji Restoration, defeating the Qing and Russia in succession and creating its own "beautiful era."
During this period, Joseon was unfortunately a border state that was clinging to the hem of the Qing Dynasty, which was showing signs of terminal illness.
In the midst of this whirlwind of change, the mirage of 'La Belle Époque' came to an end with World War I, a war of incredible lethality fostered by the capital, industry, and technology of this era.

The events listed alone clearly made that era an incredibly interesting one, and it was a scenario that foreshadowed the turbulent modern history.
Just like that scenario, the aftereffects of that time continue to this day, and we are still witnessing countless events that are no different from then, only the time and space have changed.
This is also the reason why the author published this book, paying new attention to that era.

Let's take a trip back to that era, as if reminding us of today's situation.

The author said, “If you look into the history of any era, there are many instances where today’s situation is naturally reminiscent.
“This is even more true of the story of this ‘beautiful era,’” he says.
“La Belle Epoque - The Beautiful Era” may feel hazy, but it was a fascinating time when hope and madness coexisted, and its remnants and influence still live on today.
“We created a historical documentary that can be enjoyed as if traveling, by intuitively and eloquently describing that fascinating era and capturing interesting episodes in a cartoon format,” he said. “Let’s take a trip to the world’s modern history sites with this book as if we were taking a walk.”