Because of his extreme sensitivity to the absurd and grotesque in human affairs, the Duc Jean des Esseintes, wealthy last survivor of a once-powerful family that has succumbed to inbreeding and degeneracy, has estranged himself from society and savors the most bizarre aspects of human existence in his quest for novelty.
Cloistered in his cottage, alone except for two silent servants, des Esseintes reviews the compendium of human experience: color, food and drink, literature, art, music, philosophy and religion...all are scrutinized, sifted, analyzed according to des Esseintes' delicate, highly selective tastes.
Filled with weird images, evidences of a bizarre imagination, and occasional biting wit,
Against the Grain is the greatest novel of the 'decadent experience'. Understandably shocking to the Victorians, it nonetheless exerted great influence on later writers, both French and English. It has now come to be acknowledged as a classic account of the quest for enlarged experience and new sensations, a quest which attracts wide interest today. With an Introduction by Havelock Ellis.
{This Dover edition is an unabridged republication of the English translation published by Three Sirens Press, New York, in 1931.}
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