Against the Grain · Chapter
Chapter II explained
Des Esseintes settles into his new home at Fontenay, establishing a rigid, isolated routine with his two servants.
What happens
Des Esseintes settles into his new home at Fontenay, establishing a rigid, isolated routine with his two servants. He designs an artificial dining room with an aquarium window and elaborates on his philosophy that artifice surpasses nature, arguing that manufactured pleasures and illusions can equal or exceed natural experiences. He reflects on his disgust with Parisian society and the vulgarity of modern life.
Themes in this chapter
Artifice vs. Nature
Des Esseintes argues that nature is exhausted and inferior to human artifice, citing examples like artificial wines, simulated sea-bathing, and the beauty of locomotives over women.
Escapism and Solitude
He creates a completely controlled environment in his home, isolating himself from the outside world and its vulgarities, and seeks to replace reality with illusion.
Disillusionment with Society
His hatred of Parisian society, self-made men, and the stupidity of tradesmen drives him to retreat and lock himself away with his books.
Characters to notice
- Des Esseintes
Arranges his household with meticulous detail, devising a code of signals and a medieval costume for his servant to maintain solitude. He expounds his philosophy of artifice over nature, recalling his disgust with Parisian society.
- the servant
The two old servants from the Château de Lourps are kept on; they are trained to be silent and unobtrusive, wearing felt shoes and following a strict routine.
- the Crampton
Mentioned as an example of artificial beauty, compared to a blonde woman with a glittering corset of polished brass.
Key passages
“After the sale of his household goods, Des Esseintes kept on the two old servants who had looked after his invalid mother and between them had filled the double office of general factotum and hall-porter at the Château de Lourps.”
After selling his belongings, Des Esseintes retained the two elderly servants who had cared for his mother and served as caretakers at the Château de Lourps.
Describes the retention of the servants and their previous roles.
“The whole secret is to know how to set about it, to be able to concentrate the mind on a single point, to attain to a sufficient degree of self-abstraction to produce the necessary hallucination and so substitute the vision of the reality for the reality itself.”
The key is to focus the mind intensely enough to create a hallucination that replaces actual reality with a vision of it.
Des Esseintes' philosophy of achieving illusion through mental concentration.
“To tell the truth, artifice was in Des Esseintes’ philosophy the distinctive mark of human genius.”
In Des Esseintes' view, artifice is the defining characteristic of human genius.
Central statement of his belief in the superiority of artificial creation over nature.