Christa Giles

101
Sphinx, Herodias, Salammbô, Helen, Circe, Lamia, and
many more. For Wilde and Huysmans, she existed as a
complex figure onto whom, in the wake of Baudelaire, man
projected his fears, desires, and preoccupations. As has
been noted, according to Baudelaire, crime is natural, for
man is the slave of nature – nature who commands him to
eat, sleep, and drink. Virtue, it follows, therefore, is an
artificial creation. What is best in man is consequently the
non-natural, and thus the aim of art is to be against
nature. 302 Obviously, since Wilde and Huysmans (like
Schopenhauer) viewed woman as the repository of the
natural world (encompassing sexuality and death). She is
therefore viewed as being essentially evil; that is to say,
animalistic–the logical opposite of the dandy:
La femme est le contraire du dandy.
Donc elle doit faire horreur.
La femme a faim et elle veut manger. Soif, et elle
veut boire.
Elle est en rut et elle veut être foutue.
Le beau mérite!
La femme est naturelle, c’est-à-dire abominable. 303
On one level the idea is an ancient one: woman through
sexuality becomes an incitement to sin; she is in league
with the devil and is therefore a strong force in the world.