Against Nature (riverrun editions) - a new translation of the compulsively readable cult classic

@2@The cult novel of @18@fin de siècle @19@decadence that inspired Oscar Wilde@3@@2@@20@'It will be biggest fiasco of the year - but I don't give a damn! It will be something nobody has ever done before.' @21@@3@@2@Joris-Karl Huysmans on @18@Against Nature @19@@3@@2@The title page of the first complete English translation of @18@Against Nature@19@ (published in the French as@18@ à Rebours) @19@ included the caption 'the book that Dorian Gray loved and inspired Oscar Wilde.' It was, declared Wilde, one of the best novels he had ever read. @3@@2@It is the story of Jean des Esseintes, the last of a proud and noble family, who retreats from the world in disgust at bourgeois society and leads a life based on cultivation of the senses through art. Des Esseintes distills perfumes from the rarest oils and essences, he creates a garden of poisonous flowers, sets gemstones in the shell of a tortoise's gold-painted shell and plans to corrupt a street urchin until he is degraded enough to commit murder. Des Esseintes aesthetic pilgrimage is described in minutely documented realistic detail and was widely regarded as the guidebook of decadence. @3@@2@@20@This influential novel is now available in a startling new translation by Theo Cuffe and includes a new preface by Luc Sante@21@.@3@

Product details

• Authors: Joris-Karl Huysmans, Huysmans Joris-Karl
• Assisted by: Theo Cuffe (Translation), Cuffe Theo (Translation)
• Publisher: Riverrun
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback
• Released: 31.03.2019
• EAN: 9781787475502
• ISBN: 978-1-78747-550-2
• No. of pages: 304
• Dimensions: 130 mm x 198 mm x 24 mm
• Series: riverrun editions
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature; FICTION / Literary, FICTION / Classics, Fiction in translation, Classic fiction