In grad school, this was my best friend’s favorite book. I also wanted to read it because many of my favorite writers, Proust in particular, are said to descend, in that weirdly patriarchal literary lineage, from this work. It also influenced Oscar Wilde who refers to it in The Picture of Dorian Gray as the “Yellow Book” that leads Dorian into a life of excess. It also came up in his trial for gross indecency. The introduction describes the protagonist Des Esseintes thus: “He is also, and above all else, the modern man par excellence, tortured by that vague longing for an elusive ideal which we used to call the Mal du siecle; torn between desire and satiety, hope and disillusionment; painfully conscious that his pleasures are finite, his needs infinite.” Of course I had to read it! How could I not!
This is an amazing idea in theory, but in practice is just chapter after chapter of self-indulgent things this rich guy does to keep himself busy. It’s not interesting to me. Life is short, and there are a lot of good stories out there. I didn’t finish this.
The description of him as the quintessential “modern man” also illustrates the poverty of the words “modern” and “man” when used in this way.
I prefer The Picture of Dorian Gray because the story and dialogue are entertaining. Dorian engages in the same kind of litany of crimes and debauchery to pass the time, but it’s even dirtier.
But if you want what I think I the quintessential representation of the upper class, Western, modern man: put aside an entire summer and read Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past. You’ll need a lot of time because you need to live in it.