Christa Giles

40
to be obvious is to be inartistic.˝ 99 The dandy protects
himself from pedestrian minds by remaining aloof and
inverting the clichés and beliefs of the bourgeoisie, while at
all times remaining conscious of his aristocratic spirit
which addresses itself only to those capable of hearing him.
Thus, many of the artists of the period, particularly
those termed decadent, did not desire or seek a wider
audience. In La Plume in 1896 Péladan wrote that Rops
(whose work is described in such detail in A rebours) was
unknown to the public:
Three hundred subtle minds admire and love
him, and this approbation of thinkers is all
that matters to this master; if a man of the
middle classes should happen to show a
liking for one of his works, he would
immediately destroy it. 100
Des Esseintes similarly finds that the work of art
that appeals to charlatans, endears itself to
fools, and is not content to arouse the
enthusiasm of a few connoisseurs, is thereby
polluted in the eyes of the initiate and
becomes commonplace, almost repulsive. 101
Huysmans obviously shared this view, for in writing A
rebours he claimed that he was creating a ˝hermetic book˝
which would be ˝closed to fools.˝ 102 Wilde, while he
displayed a similar contempt for the middle classes,