Against Nature

This classic novel follows Duc Jean des Esseintes as he retreats from his bourgeois life in Paris and reviews the compendium of human experience from an isolated villa. With a focus on intellectual and aesthetic contemplation, he scrutinizes color, food, literature, art, music, philosophy, and religion according to his highly selective tastes. Filled with biting wit and bizarre imagery, Against Nature scandalized Victorian critics with its embrace of fin-de-siècle decadence, but remains a classic account of the quest for new sensations. This edition includes a Preface written by the author 20 years after the book's original 1884 publication.