{"product_id":"9780140447637-against-nature","title":"Against Nature","description":"\u003cmeta content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\" http-equiv=\"Content-Type\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDes Esseintes is a decadent, ailing aristocrat who retreats to an isolated villa where her 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).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eInfamous as the inspiration for the novel which slowly corrupts Oscar Wilde's \u003ci\u003eDorian Gray\u003c\/i\u003e, Joris-Karl Huysmans' \u003ci\u003eAgainst Nature (A Rebours) \u003c\/i\u003eis translated by Robert Baldick with an introduction by Patrick McGuinness in Penguin Classics.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA wildly original \u003ci\u003efin-de-siècle\u003c\/i\u003e novel, \u003ci\u003eAgainst Nature\u003c\/i\u003e contains only one character. Des Esseintes is a decadent, ailing aristocrat who retreats to an isolated villa where her 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. \u003ci\u003eAgainst Nature\u003c\/i\u003e, in the words of the author, exploded 'like a meteorite' and has enjoyed a cult following to this day.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis revised edition of Robert Baldick's lucid translation features a new introduction and a chronology, and reproduces Huysmans's original 1903 preface as well as a selection of reviews from writers including Mallarmé, Zola and Wilde.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJoris-Karl Huysmans (1848-1907) is now recognized as one of the most challenging and innovative figures in European literature and an acknowledged principal architect of the \u003ci\u003efin-de-siècle\u003c\/i\u003e imagination. He was a career civil servant who wrote ten novels, most notably \u003ci\u003eA Rebours\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eLà-Bas\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIf you enjoyed \u003ci\u003eAgainst Nature\u003c\/i\u003e, you might like Huysmans's \u003ci\u003eThe Damned\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003e(La-Bas)\u003c\/i\u003e, also available in Penguin Classics.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rarewaves","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40943042461793,"sku":"9780140447637","price":8.51,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0092\/7504\/8033\/files\/orig_32909677.jpg?v=1739891652","url":"https:\/\/www.rarewaves.com\/products\/9780140447637-against-nature","provider":"Rarewaves.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}