Against Nature: Joris-Karl Huysmans (Penguin Classics)

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A while ago, our esteemed book editor, Phil Kirby, put a picture of his latest book purchase on Twitter.

Une seule passion, la femme, eût pu le retenir dans cet universel dédain qui le poignait, mais celle-là était, elle aussi, usée. I read the Muir translation of "The Metamorphosis" before I read the others--I have many issues with the Muir translation, so I'm always very discerning when looking for translations. This Penguin is on bright, white paper, and with larger type (though consequently is also a bit larger in size). He decides to collect exotic flowers, which resemble diseased organs, alien entities, and strange sculpture.After a year…des Esseintes felt an overpowering weariness in this company whose debaucheries seemed to him promiscuous and vulgar, carried out with no discernment, no show of passion, and no real stimulation of the blood or nerves. Wilde is quoted as having said to an interviewer with the Pall Mall Gazette in 1892, "My idea of writing the play was simply this: I have one instrument that I know I can command, and that is the English language.

When describing Des Esseintes suffering from a hot day, his ‘sodden perineum’ illustrates his sweatiness.

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. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. Another French text mentioned in Dorian Gray is Theophile Gautier's collection of poems 'Emaux et Camees' (Enamels and Cameos), and it was in Gautier's prefatory 'note' to the 1868 edition of Fleurs du mal that the phrase 'Decadence' was used to describe this literature of the later nineteenth century (it had been used earlier in the century by Desiré Nisard to describe, pejoratively, Latin poets of the late Roman Empire).

It is widely believed that À rebours is the "poisonous French novel" that leads to the downfall of Dorian Gray in Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray. This leads him to take a brief, unplanned sojourn to England, where he soaks in the atmosphere of some local pubs and cafes, only to find that the exotic ideals of his imagination give way to yet another sordid and wanting reality. By using the Web site, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the Terms and Conditions. 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).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. For that alone, this book has every reason to fail, and yet I found myself as unexpectedly fascinated by the insights of the main character as the French people did in 1884.