{"product_id":"against-nature-paperback","title":"Against Nature - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eJoris-Karl Huysmans's cult classic of deviance and decadence that inspired Oscar Wilde's \u003ci\u003ePicture of Dorian Gray\u003c\/i\u003e, now in a new translation by Theo Cuffe\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA celebration of deviance, vanity, sensual abandon, and the aesthetics of artifice, \u003ci\u003eAgainst Nature\u003c\/i\u003e brings us the nineteenth-century rebel Jean Des Esseintes--disaffected, degenerate, and art obsessed. The last of a proud and noble family, Des Esseintes retreats from the world in disgust at bourgeois society and leads a life based on cultivation of the senses through art. He distills perfumes from the rarest oils and essences, creates a garden of poisonous flowers, sets gemstones in a tortoise's gold-painted shell, and plans to corrupt a street urchin until he is degraded enough to commit murder. Des Esseintes's groundbreaking aesthetic pilgrimage in \u003ci\u003eAgainst Nature\u003c\/i\u003e has served as the guidebook to decadence for more than a century, inspiring writers from Oscar Wilde to Michel Houellebecq. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA pioneer whose early work took inspiration from Baudelaire and Zola, Joris-Karl Huysmans was a founder of the nineteenth-century decadent movement. \u003ci\u003eAgainst Nature\u003c\/i\u003e has influenced countless writers and artists and enjoys a cult following to this day. This new translation by Theo Cuffe, with a foreword by Lucy Sante, captures the magnificence of Huysmans's famous style--filled with wit and irony, expressiveness and precision, erudition and sensuality.","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50101558411487,"sku":"9781250787668","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/cXFHdXB0UUlRa3RRT2ZIc3YvOXArZz09.webp?v=1781071722","url":"https:\/\/blackandbarhe.com\/products\/against-nature-paperback","provider":"Black \u0026 Barhe Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}