Against Nature (À rebours) – J.K. Huysmans

"Nature has had her day."

Jean des Esseintes, the last member of a decaying noble family, retreats from the vulgarity of modern Paris to a secluded house. There, he tries to create an artificial paradise, surrounding himself with perfumes, exotic flowers, jewels, and literature, rejecting nature in favor of extreme aestheticism. His experiment in decadence leads to a nervous collapse.

Huysmans's novel is the bible of the Decadent movement. It is a plotless catalog of refined tastes and perverse sensations that influenced Oscar Wilde (it is the book Dorian Gray reads). It explores the limits of artifice and the exhaustion of a culture.