<b>&Agrave; rebours </b>(translated <b>Against Nature </b>or <b>Against the Grain</b>) is an 1884 novel by the French writer <b>Joris-Karl Huysmans</b>. The narrative centers on a single character: <b>Jean des Esseintes</b>, an eccentric, reclusive, ailing aesthete.<br /><br /><b>Charles-Marie-Georges Huysmans&nbsp;</b>(5 February 1848 &ndash; 12 May 1907) was a French novelist and art critic who published his works as <b>Joris-Karl Huysmans</b>.&nbsp;He is most famous for the novel <b>&Agrave; rebours</b> (1884, published in English as <b>Against the Grain</b> and as <b>Against Nature</b>). He supported himself by way of a 30-year career in the French civil service.<br /><br />&nbsp;