Against the Grain

A Rebours (Against the Grain) (1884), was a break from Naturalism for the French writer, and became the ultimate example of 'decadent' literature. It features a single character, the aesthete Des Esseintes, an eccentric, reclusive antihero. It gained further notoriety as an exhibit during the trials of Oscar Wilde in 1895, during which the prosecutor referred to the novel as a "sodomitical" book.