Comparing Sin In Picture Of Dorian Gray And Hay Rebours
Des Esseintes and Dorian
A man with a copious amount of sin will collapse under the weight of his guilt just as a tortoise with a shell gilded in precious jewels and gold will collapse under the weight of it’s wealth. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde and À Rebours (Against Nature) by Joris-Karl Huysmans explore similar ideas. Not only did À Rebours inspire Dorian Gray to leap into his life of sin in The Picture of Dorian Gray in the form of the ‘yellow book,’ but it was also said to have inspired Wilde’s only novel. In both works, the authors explore complementary ideas related to physical sensations, beauty, and art. À Rebours is called ‘a novel without a plot’ for good reason, it focuses entirely on sensation rather than plot with Huysmans’s particular urge to overwrite details. Countless pages are spent simply describing a color or the tastes of an alcoholic drink. What Des Esseintes hears, smells, sees, tastes, and feels are all huge parts of À Rebours, “It was then that the drama really began. Clutching the arms of his chair, Des Esseintes had felt a cold sensation in his cheek, stars and swum before his eyes and, in the grip of unbelievable agony, he had started stamping his feet and bellowing like an animal being slaughtered. A cracking sound was heard: the molar broke in two as it came out; he felt then as if his head was being wrenched off, as if his skull was being shattered” (Huysmans 42), …show more content…
This is a fault. Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated” (Wilde 5), to acknowledge beauty in life is to prove oneself as cultured, and as civil. Dorian Gray is considered beautiful, even after his downfall and after he is described as anything but kind. With this in mind, it can be seen
A man with a copious amount of sin will collapse under the weight of his guilt just as a tortoise with a shell gilded in precious jewels and gold will collapse under the weight of it’s wealth. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde and À Rebours (Against Nature) by Joris-Karl Huysmans explore similar ideas. Not only did À Rebours inspire Dorian Gray to leap into his life of sin in The Picture of Dorian Gray in the form of the ‘yellow book,’ but it was also said to have inspired Wilde’s only novel. In both works, the authors explore complementary ideas related to physical sensations, beauty, and art. À Rebours is called ‘a novel without a plot’ for good reason, it focuses entirely on sensation rather than plot with Huysmans’s particular urge to overwrite details. Countless pages are spent simply describing a color or the tastes of an alcoholic drink. What Des Esseintes hears, smells, sees, tastes, and feels are all huge parts of À Rebours, “It was then that the drama really began. Clutching the arms of his chair, Des Esseintes had felt a cold sensation in his cheek, stars and swum before his eyes and, in the grip of unbelievable agony, he had started stamping his feet and bellowing like an animal being slaughtered. A cracking sound was heard: the molar broke in two as it came out; he felt then as if his head was being wrenched off, as if his skull was being shattered” (Huysmans 42), …show more content…
This is a fault. Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated” (Wilde 5), to acknowledge beauty in life is to prove oneself as cultured, and as civil. Dorian Gray is considered beautiful, even after his downfall and after he is described as anything but kind. With this in mind, it can be seen