The paper offers a critical examination of the motif of scents and plants in Joris-Karl Huysmans’ modernist novel À rebours (Against the Grain). The work is interpreted as a polemic against the principles of naturalist fiction, articulated also through the novel’s treatment of nature as an “artificial” and “decadent” construct—an inversion that reflects the programmatic stance implied by the title itself.
The protagonist’s escapist attitude leads to a profound sense of detachment from ordinary human existence and to an immersion in the rarefied realm of heightened sensory experience. This otherworldly refinement is achieved, among other means, through elaborate experiments with scents, encompassing both the art of perfumery and the early practices of aromatherapy.
The article seeks to explore the function of “artificial plants” and “artificially generated” fragrances within the broader context of the evolution of the modernist novel in Europe, tracing how Huysmans’ aesthetic radicalism anticipates key transformations in the literary treatment of nature, artifice, and perception.