Joris-Karl Huysmans
Paperback | Pages: 242 pages Rating: 3.86 | 9952 Users | 669 Reviews
Itemize Books Supposing Against Nature
| Original Title: | À rebours |
| ISBN: | 0140447636 (ISBN13: 9780140447637) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Characters: | Jean Des Esseintes |
| Setting: | Fontenay-aux-Roses(France) |
| Literary Awards: | Scott Moncrieff Prize for Margaret Mauldon (1999) |
Interpretation Conducive To Books Against Nature
With a title translated either as Against Nature or as Against The Grain, this wildly original fin-de-siècle novel follows its sole character, Des Esseintes, a decadent, ailing aristocrat who retreats to an isolated villa where he indulges his taste for luxury and excess. Veering between nervous excitability and debilitating ennui, he gluts his aesthetic appetites with classical literature and art, exotic jewels (with which he fatally encrusts the shell of his tortoise), rich perfumes, and a kaleidoscope of sensual experiences. The original handbook of decadence, Against Nature exploded like a grenade (in the words of Huysmans) and has enjoyed a cult readership from its publication to the present day.Describe About Books Against Nature
| Title | : | Against Nature |
| Author | : | Joris-Karl Huysmans |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Penguin Classics |
| Pages | : | Pages: 242 pages |
| Published | : | May 1st 2003 by Penguin (first published 1884) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Classics. Cultural. France. European Literature. French Literature. Literature |
Rating About Books Against Nature
Ratings: 3.86 From 9952 Users | 669 ReviewsAssessment About Books Against Nature
Decadent Rants and HaranguesThis 1884 novel is a wonderful assemblage of prescient and decadent rants.Something Huysmans says of another book of rants could apply equally to his own work:"Conceived as harangues, they contained a certain strong muscular energy and were astonishing in the intolerance of their convictions."Scoundrels and ImbecilesJean Des Esseintes (I'll call him Des E for short) fills his life with literature, art, music, furniture, jewelry, flowers, perfumes, food and liquor.HisWell, I can honestly say I've never read anything like it, nor have I encountered a character as oddly loveable and annoying as Des Esseintes. The last of a Hapsburg-esque line of ancestors, he's a misanthropic aristocrat ailing from generations of inbreeding and a life of excess and immobility, warped from being forever consumed with his own thoughts and nothing else. He builds a new home for himself with the intent of isolation, and pretty much exists within his own material possessions,
I dont know intentionally or not but Against Nature is an absolute opposite of Walden by Henry David Thoreau and it is a complete denial of nature.Nature, he used to say, has had her day; she has finally and utterly exhausted the patience of sensitive observers by the revolting uniformity of her landscapes and skyscapes. After all, what platitudinous limitations she imposes, like a tradesman specializing in a single line of business; what petty-minded restrictions, like a shopkeeper stocking one
If Proust composed his In Search of Lost Time without having read this book, I'll eat my hat. Of course, the similarities may have been unavoidable when considering that both authors concern themselves with the period of haute couture and Faubourg Saint-Germain culture, and even chose the same aristocrat to model their own wildly eccentric characters on, the Comte de Montesquiou-Fezensac inspiring both Huysmans' Des Esseintes and Proust's Charlus. And it could have been sheer coincidence that
One doesn't read A Rebours, one lives in it, like a ghost that is compelled to haunt a place even though it would rather leave behind the place in which it was murdered. Once the book is finally closed, one deals with the hangover caused by existentialist self-loathing for every luxury one has ever allowed oneself.
Description: Des Esseintes is a decadent, ailing aristocrat who retreats to an isolated villa where he indulges his taste for luxury and excess. Veering between nervous excitability and debilitating ennui, he gluts his aesthetic appetites with classical literature and art, exotic jewels (with which he fatally encrusts the shell of his tortoise), rich perfumes, and a kaleidoscope of sensual experiences.Read hereOpening: The Floressas Des Esseintes, to judge by the various portraits preserved in
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