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Against Nature

By Joris-Karl Huysmans
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Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
In Against Nature by Joris-Karl Huysmans, the story centres on Des Esseintes, a wealthy and reclusive aesthete who withdraws from Parisian society to live in seclusion in a country house. There, he indulges in his passion for art, literature, and sensory experiences, seeking beauty and meaning in a decadent and artificial world. The novel explores themes of isolation, aestheticism, and the tensions between nature and artifice.
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book may appeal to you if you enjoy exploring the decadent and introspective journey of a privileged aristocrat who isolates himself from society, indulging in art, literature, and exotic experiences. Its richly detailed narrative and vivid description create an immersive atmosphere, offering a fascinating glimpse into Symbolist and Fin de siรจcle aesthetics.

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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).

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

The hero of this curious novel is des Esseintes, a neurasthenic aristocrat who has turned his back on the vulgarity of modern life and retreated to an isolated country villa. Here, accompanied only by a couple of silent servants, he pursues his obsessions with exotic flowers, rare gems, and complex perfumes and embarks on a series of increasingly strange aesthetic experiments, starting with the decision to give his giant pet tortoise a jewel-encrusted shell...

Against Nature explores themes of decadence and isolation, chronicling a man's quest for beauty and the extremes he reaches in his artistic endeavours.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780140447637

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 01 May 2003

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Penguin Classics

Contributors:

  • Introduction by Patrick McGuinness
  • Notes by Patrick McGuinness
  • Translated by Patrick McGuinness

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 16.0mm

Width: 130.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 215g

Pages: 288

Collections

Best Sellers at Book Hero Classic Fiction Classic General Fiction Fiction General Fiction In Stock Books In-Stock Fiction Books Joris-Karl Huysmans Literary Fiction New Release Fiction Penguin Books Penguin Classics

About the Author

Patrick McGuinness (Introducer, Translator) Patrick McGuinness is Professor of French and Comparative Literature at the University of Oxford, and a Fellow of St Anne's College. Born in Tunisia and raised in Belgium, he is a poet, novelist and translator. His novel The Last Hundred Days was longlisted for the 2011 Man Booker Prize and shortlisted for the 2011 Costa First Novel Award, and his second novel, Throw me to the Wolves, won the 2020 Encore Award. His other books include three collections of poems, The Canals of Mars (2004), Jilted City (2010), Blood Feather (2023) and a memoir, Other People's Countries (2015), which won the Duff Cooper Prize. He was made a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in 2011, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

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