Against the grain

This book is an extended version of Chapter 11 in The Picture of Dorian Gray. Or rather, Dorian Gray is a condensed version of this novel. I loved it; the aesthetic descriptions were a pleasure to read and the prose is filled with delightful vocabulary and references to so many things that I think it's worth a re-read to explore in depth. I can see why this influenced Wilde, and how it served to corrupt Dorian. There's something both inspiring and cautionary about Des Esseintes, and the reader doesn't know whether to love him or be disgusted by him.