Against the grain
Against the grain (alternative title: Against all or against nature ; original title: À rebours ) is the best-known work by the French author Joris-Karl Huysmans . With the novel published in 1884, Huysmans finally broke with the spirit of his earlier, realistic works and set a monument to the concept of decadence . À rebours soon became a cult book for followers and representatives of decadence poetry , symbolism and L'art pour l'art .
action
The main character of the story-poor novel is Jean Floressas Des Esseintes, an eccentric French nobleman and decadent esthete, the last of his line. Des Esseintes is educated in a Jesuit school and then enjoys the decadent life of the aristocratic upper class in the late 19th century. Unsatisfied and disappointed with this life and incapable of human contact, he withdraws to a house on the outskirts of Paris that is extravagantly furnished according to his ideas.
Des Esseintes supports the thesis of aestheticism that nature is primitive and inferior to the human spirit, which is why he prefers everything artificial to natural. In Solitude Des Esseintes devotes himself to his hobbies: He collects special books by ancient, early Christian and medieval authors, some of which he has designed for himself in a single edition on the finest paper and exquisite bindings; he devotes himself to the fine arts, especially painting, with particular preference for Odilon Redon and Gustave Moreau ; he acquires a comprehensive collection of exotic plants that cost a fortune and are soon to die, delves into gemstones and fragrances, and goes sarcastic about religion. His preferred literature are the works of Flaubert , Poe and Baudelaire . A giant tortoise that he purchases to decorate one of his carpets becomes a symbol of his life-killing style will. Since it doesn't seem to suit him in terms of color, he has the animal's shell decorated with gold and precious stones in such a way that the turtle dies on it. His lifestyle eventually ruins his health and promotes his neurosis. He is slowly wasting away. Desperate, he has a Paris doctor brought in. This “forces” him to return to society. The extent to which this return will result in Des Esseintes' recovery is left open in the novel. The text closes with a prayer of Des Esseintes: "(...) Lord, have pity on the Christian who doubts, the unbeliever who wants to believe, the convict of life who sets out at night, alone under the firmament, that is no longer illuminated by the consolation torches of old hope! "
In his foreword to Gegen den Strich , written twenty years after it was first published, Huysmans quotes Barbey d'Aurévilly , who wrote in a meeting in the Constitutionnel on July 28, 1884: "After such a book, the author can only choose between the mouth of one Pistol and the feet of the cross. " "That happened," Huysmans comments on this admission, which could apply to both the protagonist of his novel Des Esseintes and himself.
Reception in literature and pop culture
- A French novel that inspires the protagonist in Oscar Wilde's novel The Portrait of Dorian Gray to decadent debauchery is often interpreted as an allusion to À rebors . Like Stéphane Mallarmé , Wilde was an admirer of the novel.
- The song against the grain by the Hamburg band Tocotronic also refers to the novel, which Dirk von Lowtzow confirmed in various interviews. In addition, a cover image is shown in the associated video clip.
- À rebours is the title of a song by the British band In the Nursery on the album Duality and the title of a song by the Babyshambles on the album Down in Albion .
- The narrator in submission to Michel Houellebecq is Huysmans specialist. He considers À rebours to be the high point of his work and unique in world literature.
literature
expenditure
- À rebors , Gallimard (folio) 1977.
- À rebours , GF-Flammarion 1978, ISBN 2-08-070298-X .
- Against the grain , translated by Marie Capsius. Schuster & Löffler, Berlin 1897, German first edition, new edition 2015
- Against the Grain , translated by Hans Jacob. Kiepenheuer, Potsdam 1921, Diogenes, Zurich 2007, ISBN 978-3-257-20921-1 .
- Against the Grain , translated by Walter and Myriam Münz. Insel, Frankfurt am Main 2006, ISBN 978-3-458-34877-1 .
- Against all , translated by Caroline Vollmann. Haffmans / Zweiausendeins, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-86150-587-7 .
- Against the grain , translated by Brigitta Restorff. Artemis & Winkler, Düsseldorf 2008, ISBN 978-3-538-06351-8 .
Secondary literature
- Hans-Jürgen Greif : Huysmans' "A Rebours" and the decadence . Bouvier, Bonn 1971
- François Livi: J.-K. Huysmans. À rebors et l'esprit décadent. La Renaissance Du Livre, Paris 1972; Nizet, Paris 1991, ISBN 2-7078-1145-9
Web links
- French full text
- German full text at Zeno.org
- Erik Zyber: Die, old world , in: Die Zeit, March 20, 2008
Individual evidence
- ^ Edition Diogenes, Zurich 2007, ISBN 978-3-257-20921-1 , page 52.