#des esseintes

[noovorous]

Hobbies recommended for decadents to battle your devastating ennui:

1- Latin literature 2- Decorating turtles with handpicked selection of gemstones 3- Using synaesthesia to play music in your head by tasting different liqueurs 4- Collecting bizarre plants 5- Making imagined trips to foreign lands by taking a trip somewhere rather near 6- Collecting art 7- Exploring an array of kinks 8- Making your own perfume 9- Pushing innocents into a life of crime and debauchery 10- Reading about 1-9 in a book with yellow binding 11- Ruining the lives of pretty girls and boys 12- Participating in a roman catholic mass for the aesthetic 13- Studying and burning incense 14- Listening to exotic music 15- Studying gems and their folklore 16- Collecting embroidery and fabrics 17- Kissing lips of a decapitated head 18- Studying dark occult mysteries 19- Graverobbing

References:

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9- À rebours by Joris-Karl Huysmans 10,11,12,13,14,15,16- The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde 17- Salome by Oscar Wilde 18- The Thing on the Doorstep by Howard Phillips Lovecraft 19- The Hound by Howard Phillips Lovecraft

[helplessly-johnlocked]

asking chat gpt open ai how to live a decadent, hedonistic, morally ambiguous, homosexual life: a guide

me (2 am): how can I imitate Holden Caulfield, Des Esseintes, Henry Winter and Dorian Gray?

chat gpt:

It's important to note that the characters you mentioned - Holden Caulfield from "The Catcher in the Rye," Des Esseintes from "Against Nature," Henry Winter from "The Secret History," and Dorian Gray from "The Picture of Dorian Gray" - are complex and often flawed individuals. While they may possess certain captivating qualities, it's crucial to approach their behaviors with caution. Instead of aiming to imitate them entirely, consider exploring certain aspects of their personalities in a healthy and responsible manner. Here are some suggestions:

1. Holden Caulfield: (he's here to balance things out)

- Embrace a critical mindset: Like Holden, develop a discerning eye and a willingness to question societal norms and expectations.

- Seek authenticity: Strive to be true to yourself and resist the pressure to conform. Value genuine connections and sincerity in your relationships.

2. Des Esseintes:

- Cultivate a refined taste: Like Des Esseintes, develop an appreciation for art, literature, and beauty. Explore different art forms and indulge in aesthetic pleasures.

- Foster introspection: Take time for introspection and self-reflection. Delve into your thoughts and emotions, allowing them to shape your understanding of yourself and the world around you.

3. Henry Winter:

- Intellectual engagement: Follow Henry's example by actively pursuing intellectual pursuits and engaging in deep discussions with others. Foster a love for knowledge and critical thinking.

- Loyalty and camaraderie: Like Henry, develop meaningful connections with friends based on trust, loyalty, and shared interests. Embrace the value of genuine friendships.

4. Dorian Gray:

- Appreciate beauty: Like Dorian Gray, develop an eye for beauty in the world around you. Cultivate an appreciation for aesthetics, whether it be through art, nature, or other forms of beauty.

- Self-reflection and self-improvement: Engage in self-reflection and strive for personal growth. Seek to understand your own strengths and weaknesses and work towards becoming the best version of yourself.

Remember, these characters are fictional and often grapple with significant challenges and moral dilemmas. It's important to approach their traits with caution and to prioritize your own well-being and ethical behavior. Seek a healthy balance between the admirable aspects of these characters and your own values, and remember to embrace personal growth and responsibility in your journey.

there you go, now we're all ready to embrace Oscar Wilde's legacy <3

[noovorous]

Bark that looks like copper? Now I know what grows in des Esseintes' garden.

One of my favorite trees due to year round interest. Birch bark cherry or Tibetan cherry. Prunus serrula.

[deoster]

Des Esseintes

[queerographies]

[Scarabaeus][Jiří Karásek ze Lvovic]

Tra sensualità e morte, un'anima persa nei labirinti di Venezia. In "Scarabaeus", un romanzo gotico che ti lascerà senza fiato, il confine tra desiderio e distruzione è sempre più labile. Sei pronto ad affrontare le tenebre?

Scarabaeus: Un viaggio nel cuore del decadentismo, tra Dorian Gray e Des Esseintes Titolo: Scarabaeus Scritto da: Jiří Karásek ze LvovicTitolo originale: Scarabaeus Tradotto da: Ruzena HálováEdito da: Moretti & VitaliAnno: 2024Pagine: 256ISBN: 9788871867953 La trama di Scarabaeus di Jiří Karásek ze Lvovic Scarabaeus, romanzo, è parte di una trilogia, i Romanzi dei Tre Maghi, di cui il primo,…

[rabbitmotifs]

???

aestheticism is so funny you guys are insane

[ombrecinq]

It’s so true! Thanks someone else understand!

Des Esseintes is not like the other girls…

[imageingrunge]

im normally a silly name enjoyer but elviria slayer?? elle deVAMPIRO come on now those are pen names/aliases... like Inna Cents sounds real enough 2 me at least 

[spilladabalia]

The Mekons - Vengeance

[agnesandhilda]

I just know des esseintes' tumblr would've been insane

[weepingwidar]

Dennis Scholl (German, 1980) - Des Esseintes (2019)

[noovorous]

Is there a work of art more thoroughly decadent than a beautifully made greenhouse? I do not mean those low, simple constructions spanning many acres, meant for mass production of vegetables and flowers or tiny tunnels for producing those for one household. I talk about palm houses, about Eden Project in Cornwall, about Climatron in Missouri Botanical Garden, about Royal Greenhouses of Laeken. Cathedrals of steel, aluminum, glass and transparent plastic.

Duke des Esseintes spends a chapter of À rebours admiring his collection of exotic plants, fresh and bizzare when compared to what was common in his time and place. Further, he admires the work of gardeners who shaped those plants, well aware that their bizzare shapes, colours and textures are work of men who were daring enough to shape what was given to them from nature.

Isn't a fair orangerie, a splendid palmhouse an exagerration of this line of thinking? Isn't it what cathedral is to a wayside shrine? Plants placed where nature did not intend them to be, kept in a climate controlled by human artistry, sealed within a palace of transparent panes bound by filigree of metal. That temple to Apollo and Pomona, that palace of man shaped materials housing man shaped fruits and flowers. Trees growing near each other in defiance of geographic borders, species unchanged for million of years growing next to cultivars that would not exist without thousands of years of human gardeners shaping them. A piece of rainforest, desert and mediterranean orchard all next to each other, separated by a layer of glass from the bitter snow outside.

The Interior of the Palm House on the Pfaueninsel Near Potsdam by Carl Blechen

[majestativa]

Herod’s palace rose up like some Alhambra on slender columns iridescent with Moresque tiles, which appeared to be bedded in silver mortar and gold cement; arabesques started from lozenges of lapis lazuli to wind their way right across the cupolas, whose mother-of-pearl marquetry gleamed with rainbow lights and flashed with prismatic fires. The murder had been done; now the executioner stood impassive, his hands resting on the pommel of his long, bloodstained sword. The Saint’s decapitated head had left the charger where it lay on the flagstones and risen into the air, the eyes staring out from the livid face, the colourless lips parted, the crimson neck dripping tears of blood. A mosaic encircled the face, and also a halo of light whose rays darted out under the porticoes, emphasized the awful elevation of the head, and kindled a fire in the glassy eyeballs, which were fixed in what happened to be agonized concentration on the dancer. With a gesture of horror, Salome tries to thrust away the terrifying vision which holds her nailed to the spot, balanced on the tips of her toes, her eyes dilated, her right hand clawing convulsively at her throat. [...] The dreadful head glows eerily, bleeding all the while, so that clots of dark red form at the ends of hair and beard. Visible to Salome alone, it embraces in its sinister gaze neither Herodias, musing over the ultimate satisfaction of her hatred, nor the Tetrarch, who, bending forward a little with his hands on his knees, is still panting with emotion, maddened by the sight and smell of the woman’s naked body, steeped in musky scents, anointed with aromatic balms, impregnated with incense and myrrh. Like the old King, Des Esseintes invariably felt overwhelmed, subjugated, stunned when he looked at this dancing-girl, who was less majestic, less haughty, but more seductive than the Salome of the oil-painting. In the unfeeling and unpitying statue, in the innocent and deadly idol, the lusts and fears of common humanity had been awakened; the great lotus-blossom had disappeared, the goddess vanished; a hideous nightmare now held in its choking grip an entertainer, intoxicated by the whirling movement of the dance, a courtesan, petrified and hypnotized by terror. Here she was a true harlot, obedient to her passionate and cruel female temperament; here she came to life, more refined yet more savage, more hateful yet more exquisite than before; here she roused the sleeping senses of the male more powerfully, subjugated his will more surely with her charms – the charms of a great venereal flower, grown in a bed of sacrilege, reared in a hot-house of impiety.

— Joris-Karl Huysmans, Against Nature, transl by Robert Baldick, (2003)

[enchantedbook]

Des Esseintes in his study, by Arthur Zaidenberg (Against the Grain, New York, Illustrated Editions, 1931)

[nem0c]

A few days later, the servant brought him an enema altogether different in colour and smell from the peptone preparations. "But it's not the same!" exclaimed Des Esseintes, anxiously inspecting the liquid that had been poured into the apparatus. He asked for the menu as he might have done in a restaurant, and unfolding the doctor's prescription, he read out: -Cod-liver oil 29 grammes -Beef-tea 200 grammes -Burgundy 200 grammes -Yolk of one egg [...]The operation was successfully carried out, and Des Esseintes could not help secretly congratulating himself on this experience which was, so to speak, the crowning achievement of the life he had planned for himself; his taste for the artificial had now, without even the slightest effort on his part, attained its supreme fulfiment. No one, he thought, would ever go any further; taking nourishment in this way was undoubtedly the ultimate deviation from the norm.

J. K. Huysmans, À rebours, Bovril and wine enema

[blossomingbooks]

Book review: À rebours, Joris-Karl Huysmans

Finally doing my blossoming book review of Joris-Karl Huysmans' À rebours (1884), after a long time coming.

“It was a novel without a plot, and with only one character, being, indeed, simply a psychological study of a certain young Parisian, who spent his life trying to realize in the nineteenth century all the passions and modes of thought that belonged to every century except his own... (...) For years, Dorian Gray could not free himself from the influence of this book. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that he never sought to free himself from it.”  (Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray)

You wouldn’t believe for how many years I had this book on stand-by. I made the bold decision to start reading it when I was halfway through my French studies... and let’s just say that 19th century Decadent writing isn’t the smoothest option for a non-native. 

Yet, I persisted until I had read around 4/5 of the book, when my brain got way too tired to continue (and other academic pursuits got in the way as well). But this summer I was to visit France again, after 9 years since I'd been there. So, to reawaken my language skills, I took this out of the depths of the French section of my bookshelf to finally finish it. 

It was a delightful surprise to feel much more at ease reading it than I had expected. The narrative is pretty much static throughout the whole book, so to pick up where I left off wasn’t a problem either. 

This is a very peculiar story with a very peculiar protagonist. Des Esseintes is a Decadent aristocrat who wants to live apart from his contemporary society, which he despises – thus the title, À rebours (an expression literally translated to “backwards”) or, in the English translation, Against the Grain.��

The narrative happens mostly within the confines of his country house in Fontenay and it revolves around his intellectual musings and artistic tastes. Most chapters feel more like a work of literary criticism than fiction, with in-depth analyses of specific authors from different centuries. Recurring mentions include Edgar Allan Poe, Decadent authors such as Baudelaire (a key influence for his “ennui”) and Barbey d'Aurevilly, as well as Symbolist poets Mallarmé and Verlaine. 

Considering this, it’s a book I wouldn’t recommend unless you’re a classic literature afficionado or an academic. I was mainly attracted to it because it’s said to be the “poisonous” French “yellow book” mentioned in Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray (one of my all-time favorite novels). It has a central role in the protagonist’s arc, producing “in the mind of the lad, as he passed from chapter to chapter, a form of reverie, a malady of dreaming” (Wilde). 

Some of des Esseintes’ most interesting aesthetic experiments include his attempt at creating perfumes, his garden of poisonous tropical flowers and, in the most unhinged episode of the narrative, adorning a tortoise’s shell with gemstones (the weight of which eventually proves fatal to the animal). 

Ultimately, however, his reclusive lifestyle starts taking a toll on his health: with stomach pains followed by anemia and a nervous system aggravated by delirium episodes, his ennui slowly turns into neurosis. 

Considered a manifesto of the Decadent spirit, À rebours draws a compelling portrait of the 19th century’s “Mal du siècle” through this eccentric antihero who desires, above all, to turn "the dream of reality into reality itself".