À rebours by Joris-Karl Huysmans

I have been trying to get my hands on a copy of this book for years, and I have finally accomplished it. This is the famous 'poisonous book' in The Picture of Dorian Gray, but it was very different from what I expected. In contrast to the passages in Wilde where Dorian descends into a really disturbing mental and psychological darkness in exploring the past and indulging his super-delicate senses, the hero of this book does the same thing with somehow humorous results. I couldn't help finding this book an extensive exercise in black humour. After all, it ends with a doctor marching in, ordering the overdramatic des Esseintes (who spends a good part of the book ill, fainting and vomiting due to his unhealthy lifestyle) to stop indulging his over-refined aristocratic sensibilities, talk to people, sleep with some prostitutes, and generally stop being a pretentious little bitch. I got hold of a very old translation, and the language was extremely rich and beautiful, I really did enjoy the meditations on art and culture, the fantastic quirks and notions of the main character enormously, but I couldn't take it with the seriousness that I do Dorian Gray. There are some parts that threaten to become really dark and terrible, but they are comically deflated and stripped of their horror. For instance, in one section, des Esseintes recalls how he attempts to corrupt a young man and turn him into a murdered by making him dependent on the services of prostitutes to such an extent that when deprived of them, the boy will resort to stealing and murder to get the money. So far so terrifying. But then des Esseintes reflects on his disappointment that this project has apparently failed, since he has seen nothing about the boy in any newspapers. Then he remembers that he doesn't read newspapers at all. This kind of absurdity was really delightful, but it wasn't the effect I expected, having gotten all excited about the book due to Wilde. My favourite part was when des Esseintes, after reading some Dickens, is possessed by the desire to go to London. He goes to Paris to catch a train to London, then goes to a tavern, eats enough meat pies and pork to feed an army, listens to some people speaking English, and decides that he has gotten the London experience in full and off he goes home, with his bags that had been packed for several months' travel.