Against Nature (Penguin Classics) Book

The hero of this curious novel is des Esseintes a neurasthenic aristocrat who has turned his back on the vulgarity of modern life and retreated to an isolated country villa. Here accompanied only by a couple of silent servants he pursues his obsessions with exotic flowers rare gems and complex perfumes and embarks on a series of increasingly strange aesthetic experiments starting with the decision to give his giant pet tortoise a jewel-encrusted shell...

A neurasthenic aristocrat turns his back on the vulgarity of modern life and retreats to an isolated country villa. Here he pursues his obsessions with exotic flowers rare gems and perfumes and embarks on a series of increasingly strange aesthetic experiments.

'He drank this liquid perfume from cups of that oriental porcelain known as egg-shell china, it is so delicate and diaphanous' A wildly original fin de siacle novel, Against Nature contains only one character.