Against The Grain

Joris-Karl Huysmans' book Against the Grain was first published in French as rebours in 1884.The piece embodies the decadence of late 19th-century French upper culture in both style and content. Des Esseintes, the main character, displays the crippling symptoms of neurasthenia, a broad psychosomatic condition that was popular at the time.Because of his health, he must temporarily leave Paris and m...