Description

First published in 1884, À rebours (Against the grain) by the French novelist Joris-Karl Huysmans (1848−1907) reflects the author’s departure from the romanticism of Émile Zola and his adoption of a new Symbolist aestheticism. In the absence of a plot, the narrative focuses on the main character, Jean des Esseintes, an eccentric, reclusive aesthete and antihero who rejects modernity and cultivates a taste for decadence. After leading an eventful and exuberant life, des Esseintes becomes weary of society and retreats to a suburban home in Fontenay-aux-Roses, where he ...