[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-143209-en":3,"doc-seo-143209-105":31,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":92},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":21,"is_downloadable":21,"audit_status":21,"page_count":22,"language":23,"language_code":24,"site_id":25,"html_lang":24,"table_of_contents":26,"faqs":27,"seo_title":28,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":29,"read_time":30},143209,8796095360427,"Lucas Martin","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_994ba38a5ba835b3df7d355c54d3ed8d",2,"Literature","Against the Grain - Chapter 1 - The Floressas Des Esseintes","A literary translation excerpt introduces Jean Des Esseintes through the ancestral portraits of the Floressas Des Esseintes preserved in the Château de Lourps. It traces a decline over generations marked by repeated inbreeding, fading strength, and an increasingly effeminate temperament. The narrative then focuses on the only surviving scion, Duc Jean, detailing his physical attributes, difficult childhood illnesses, and detached family relationships. It also sketches his Jesuit schooling, early brilliance mixed with inability to follow discipline-heavy studies, and his reflective retreat into solitary reading and wandering.","AGAINST THE GRAIN  \nby  \nJORIS-KARL HUYSMANS  \nTranslated by John Howard  \nCONTENTS  \nChapter 1  \nChapter 2  \nChapter 3  \nChapter 4  \nChapter 5  \nChapter 6  \nChapter 7  \nChapter 8  \nChapter 9  \nChapter 10  \nChapter 11  \nChapter 12  \nChapter 13  \nChapter 14  \nChapter 15  \nChapter 16  \nCHAPTER 1  \nTHE Floressas Des Esseintes, to judge by the various portraits preserved  \nin the Château de Lourps, had originally been a family of stalwart troopers and stern cavalry men. Closely arrayed, side by side, in the old frames which their broad shoulders filled, they startled one with the fixed gaze of their eyes, their fierce moustaches and the chests whose deep curves filled the enormous shells of their cuirasses.  \nThese were the ancestors. There were no portraits of their descendants and a wide breach existed in the series of the faces of this race. Only one painting served as a link to connect the past and present—a crafty, mysterious head with haggard and gaunt features, cheekbones punctuated with a comma of paint, the hair overspread with pearls, a painted neck rising stiffly from the fluted ruff.  \nIn this representation of one of the most intimate friends of the Ducd'Epernon and the Marquis d'O, the ravages of a sluggish and impoverished constitution were already noticeable.  \nIt was obvious that the decadence of this family had followed an unvarying course. The effemination of the males had continued with quickened tempo. As if to conclude the work of long years, the Des Esseintes had intermarried for two centuries, using up, in such consanguineous unions, such strength as remained.  \nThere was only one living scion of this family which had once been so numerous that it had occupied all the territories of the Ile-de-France and La Brie. The Duc Jean was a slender, nervous young man of thirty, with hollow cheeks, cold, steel-blue eyes, a straight, thin nose and delicate hands.  \nBy a singular, atavistic reversion, the last descendant resembled the old grandsire, from whom he had inherited the pointed, remarkably fair beard and an ambiguous expression, at once weary and cunning.  \nHis childhood had been an unhappy one. Menaced with scrofula and afflicted with relentless fevers, he yet succeeded in crossing the breakers of adolescence, thanks to fresh air and careful attention. He grew stronger, overcame the languors of chlorosis and reached his full development.  \nHis mother, a tall, pale, taciturn woman, died of anæmia, and his father of some uncertain malady. Des Esseintes was then seventeen years of age.  \nHe retained but a vague memory of his parents and felt neither affection nor gratitude for them. He hardly knew his father, who usually resided in Paris. He recalled his mother as she lay motionless in a dim room of the Château de Lourps. The husband and wife would meet on rare occasions, and he remembered those lifeless interviews when his parents sat face to face in front of a round table faintly lit by a lamp with a wide, low-hanging shade, for the duchesse could not endure light or sound without being seized with a fit of nervousness. A few, halting words would be exchanged between them in the gloom and then the indifferent duc would depart to meet the first train back to Paris.  \nJean's life at the Jesuit school, where he was sent to study, was more pleasant. At first the Fathers pampered the lad whose intelligence astonished them. But despite their efforts, they could not induce him to concentrate on studies requiring discipline. He nibbled at various books and was precociously brilliant in Latin. On the contrary, he was absolutely incapable of construing two Greek words, showed no aptitude for living languages and promptly proved himself a dunce when obliged to master the elements of the sciences.  \nHis family gave him little heed. Sometimes his father visited him at school. \"[How are you . . . be](How are you . . . be) good . . . study hard . . . \"—and he was gone. The lad passed the summer vacations at the Château de L","cbCaioLdAIA4vDU3","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaioLdAIA4vDU3","pdf",852561,6,1,157,"English","en",105,"# Chapter 1\n## Ancestry and the portraits at the Château de Lourps\n## The decline of the Des Esseintes family\n## Jean Des Esseintes: character and illness\n## Education at the Jesuit school\n## Solitary summers and reflective development","[{\"question\":\"What does the opening of Chapter 1 focus on?\",\"answer\":\"It opens by describing the ancestors of the Floressas Des Esseintes as portrayed in portraits at the Château de Lourps, and how those images connect past to present.\"},{\"question\":\"How is Duc Jean Des Esseintes characterized?\",\"answer\":\"He is portrayed as slender and nervous with cold, steel-blue eyes and a guarded expression, resembling an earlier ancestor by a form of atavistic return.\"},{\"question\":\"How does Jean spend his summers and how does it affect him?\",\"answer\":\"He wanders through the countryside and reads in solitude, and through prolonged contemplation his mind grows sharper, shaping his reflective temperament after each vacation.\"}]","Against the Grain - Chapter 1 - The Floressas Des Esseintes | PDF",1787693673,242,{"code":4,"msg":32,"data":33},"ok",{"site_id":25,"language":24,"slug":34,"title":13,"keywords":35,"description":14,"schema_data":36,"social_meta":87,"head_meta":89,"extra_data":91,"updated_unix":29},"against-the-grain-chapter-1-the-floressas-des-esseintes","",{"@graph":37,"@context":86},[38,54,69],{"@type":39,"itemListElement":40},"BreadcrumbList",[41,45,48,51],{"item":42,"name":43,"@type":44,"position":21},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":46,"name":47,"@type":44,"position":11},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",{"item":49,"name":12,"@type":44,"position":50},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literature/",3,{"item":52,"name":13,"@type":44,"position":53},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/against-the-grain-chapter-1-the-floressas-des-esseintes/143209/",4,{"url":52,"name":13,"@type":55,"author":56,"headline":13,"publisher":58,"fileFormat":61,"inLanguage":24,"description":14,"dateModified":62,"datePublished":63,"encodingFormat":61,"isAccessibleForFree":64,"interactionStatistic":65},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":57},"Person",{"url":42,"name":59,"@type":60},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-09-03","2026-08-25",true,{"@type":66,"interactionType":67,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":68},"ViewAction",{"@type":70,"mainEntity":71},"FAQPage",[72,78,82],{"name":73,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":75},"What does the opening of Chapter 1 focus on?","Question",{"text":76,"@type":77},"It opens by describing the ancestors of the Floressas Des Esseintes as portrayed in portraits at the Château de Lourps, and how those images connect past to present.","Answer",{"name":79,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":80},"How is Duc Jean Des Esseintes characterized?",{"text":81,"@type":77},"He is portrayed as slender and nervous with cold, steel-blue eyes and a guarded expression, resembling an earlier ancestor by a form of atavistic return.",{"name":83,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":84},"How does Jean spend his summers and how does it affect him?",{"text":85,"@type":77},"He wanders through the countryside and reads in solitude, and through prolonged contemplation his mind grows sharper, shaping his reflective temperament after each vacation.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":52,"og:type":88,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":59,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":90,"canonical":52},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":25},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":93},[94,98,101,105,110,114,119,124,129,132,136],{"id":21,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":95,"show_sort_weight":96,"slug":97},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},80,"literature",{"id":53,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":111,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":120,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":121,"show_sort_weight":122,"slug":123},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":125,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":126,"show_sort_weight":127,"slug":128},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":130,"show_sort_weight":127,"slug":131},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":133,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":134,"show_sort_weight":133,"slug":135},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":137,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":138,"show_sort_weight":106,"slug":139},19,"General","general"]