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A rebours (1884)



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Galignani’s Messenger.

23 May 1884.

"A Rebours" by J. K. Huysmans is a work of entirely new but by no means healthy tendency, and the reading of it leaves a decidedly bitter taste behind. It is the life-story of a scion of noble race who, by reason of his education at the hands of the Jesuits, added to an over-delicate artistic perception, has become so super-refined and different from others of his kind that all human contact is odious, and he seeks to create around him a fictitious world of artificial sensations to replace the ordinary emotions and interests of common life. The book, though unpleasant, is decidedly powerful.