In July of 1890, Oscar Wilde published A Picture of Dorian Gray for the first time in Lippincott's Magazine. It scarcely admitted—in theory at least—any exceptions to the rule; thus it limited itself to depicting common existence, and struggled, under the pretext of being true to life, to create characters who would be as close as possible to the average run of mankind.

His isolation, like everything else he's tried, inevitably fails him and his words in the final chapter are full of emotional despair for the things in life he cannot find, nor entirely understand. Culturally Religious: Des Esseintes had a Catholic upbringing and was instructed by the Jesuits, but at some point he abandoned the faith and turned to the philosophical ideas of the German pessimist Arthur Schopenhauer. Des Esseintes conjures up pretend worlds for himself too, with the aid of perfumes which he mixes together to make powerfully suggestive scents. K. Huysmans and "The Strange Death of Europe" by Douglas Murray, which mentions the book "Au Rebours" and the author's journey to salvation, I decided I should try reading the book itself. Against Nature displays a profound disgust for women as well as an effete sensibility that rejected `normality' and convention.

He [Baudelaire] had revealed the morbid psychology of a mind that has reached the autumn of its experiences, had described the symptoms of a soul conscripted by suffering and licensed by spleen, had exposed the growing decay of feeling after the enthusiasm and belief of youth have evaporated . Against Nature, in the words of the author, exploded 'like a meteorite' and has enjoyed a cult following to this day. I got much, much more out of this novel than I was expecting, but I also understand why someone would not like this book. in a period devoted to money-making, lived apart…sheltered from the stupidity surrounding him…taking pleasure, far from society, in the revelations of the mind, in the visions of the brain, refining…concepts…in lightly hinted inferences linked by a berely perceptible thread. The only chapter that truly seems out of place herein, in this brief section of the narrative, des Esseintes takes an out of character detour into the territory marked by the likes of Octave Mirbeau’s Clara from Torture Garden or more to the point, Jean Lorrain’s oily Claudius Ethal from Monsieur de Phocas, in deliberately seeking to start trouble and drive others to ruination by subtle means.

Huysmans decided to keep certain features of the Naturalist style, such as its use of minutely documented realistic detail, but apply them instead to a portrait of an exceptional individual: the protagonist Jean des Esseintes. Mundane Made Awesome: Des Esseintes' "hobbies" (the word seems inadequate) are described by Huysmans in lavish style and as if they are of epic importance, which to the central character, they are. The latter has far more annotation, especially for the surveys of Latin and French "decadent" literature, but you really don't need that for more than your first reading.

I'm just focusing on the edition: the 2004 Penguin Classics reprint of Robert Baldick's 1956 translation but with a new introduction and notes by Patrick McGuinness (and a new cover, of which more anon). The sheer amount of literature and historical figures covered in this book, if only briefly, is somewhat remarkable.

He had tasted the feasts of the flesh with the appetite of a capricious man afflicted with bulimia, one who is obsessed by hunger, but whose palate is quickly dulled and surfeited; in the days when he had associated with country gents, he had participated in those protracted suppers during which drunken women unfastened their clothing at dessert and slumped their heads on the table; he had also scoured the wings backstage at the theatre, sampled actresses and singers, suffered, in addition to the innate stupidity of women, the frenzied vanity of third-rate leading ladies; after that, he had kept already notorious whores and contributed to the fortune of those agencies that supply dubious pleasures for a modest recompense; finally, sated, weary of these unvarying lusts, of these identical caresses, he had plunged into the slums, hoping to revive his desires through contrast, thinking to stimulate his deadened senses with the arousing indecencies of poverty. Many critics were appalled by its apparent lack of morality, while young Dandies and Aesthetes were attracted to it for its idolisation of art and sensation.He’s a less psychotic hybrid of Hannibal Lecter and Jean-Baptiste Grenouille from Perfume ; or the enfeebled offspring of H.

The overall picture painted is one of an unprincipled society drifting further and further into meaningless drivel to fill the void left behind by religion and community. He even has the woman wear a nun-style coif to avoid being put off by her silhouette seen through his windows. Des Esseintes develops a love for perfumes, and the scents evoke memories of his former lovers, including an androgynous female acrobat, and an adolescent boy. Salome was already in rehearsals for a 1892 London premiere, but was banned by the Lord Chamberlain's Office for its portrayal of BIblical figures on stage. The main focus of the play was the dance, in which seven silk scarves work as extensions of the performers body.Gautier himself had significant 'decadent' credentials - just try his 1835 novel Mademoiselle de Maupin! Huysmans would later retract this statement in a preface reflecting on the book twenty years after its publication. Huysmans’s Against the Grain: The Willed Exile of the Introverted Decadent," Nineteenth-Century French Studies, Vol.