Against the Grain: by J.-K. Huysmans by J. -K Huysmans Paperback Book

Description: Against the Grain by J. -K Huysmans Ailing, neurotic, and bored with the world, the nobleman Des Esseintes retreats to a secluded cottage in the French countryside. Determined to shun all contact with other people-demanding that even his live-in domestics must wear face-covering robes in his presence-he throws himself into an all-out celebration of the ultimate in artificial and unnatural pleasure. Surrendering to religious and profane literature, morbid paintings, overwhelming perfumes, expensive liquor, grotesque flowers, and reminiscences of his depraved past brings him unsurpassable pleasure, but his mental and physical condition may not be able to keep up. When Huysmans wrote Against the Grain, he did so to move away from the creative restrictions he felt the Naturalist school of literature imposed on him. According to him, "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." Instead, he dedicated Naturalisms attention to detail to just one extraordinary, perverse individual, Des Esseintes-fully expecting the resulting work to fail critically and commercially. That the novel would become a scandalous success, and would define Decadence as a movement and ideology, was far beyond his expectations. Oscar Wilde was a well-known admirer of the novel, and drew heavily from it to write The Picture of Dorian Gray. During his trial in 1895, Wilde all but confirmed that the "poisonous French novel" in his work refers to Against the Grain. This Standard Ebooks edition is based on the first unabridged English edition, which was translated anonymously and published by Groves & Michaux in 1926. It reinstates passages that were considered too obscene in previous editions, and includes a preface Huysmans wrote twenty years after the first publication of the book. FORMAT Paperback CONDITION Brand New Details ISBN Author J. -K Huysmans Pages 294 Publisher Culturea Year 2023 ISBN-13 9791041800339 Format Paperback Publication Date 2023-03-04 Imprint Culturea Subtitle by J.-K. Huysmans Audience General We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:159612238;

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