Books and readers in the end of century scenario: J. K. Huysmans and Oscar Wilde

Abstract

This paper deals with the reading scenes and literary comments present in À rebours, by J.K. Huysmans and The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde. Written in a flowering period of the printed word, typographic modernization and emergence of the great reading public, both novels show the fight of the elites for keeping a symbolic capital. In the face of an increasing diversity and democratization of the reading public, the decadent hero needs to overact his features of distinction to keep the distance from the masses and the bourgeoisie. This exaggerated refinement is clearly seen in the materials used by the protagonists, their purposes and reading approach.