Aesthetic Reverie Sense Perception and Mental Vision in the Works of Paul Souriau and Joris-Karl Huysmans

This article discusses the concept of aesthetic reverie, coined by the French philosopher Paul Souriau, through an exemplary reading of Joris-Karl Huysmans’ decadent novel À rebours. It thereby examines narrative strategies of blending factual reality and the imaginary projections of the daydreaming mind as well as their underlying theoretical implications with regard to the aesthetics of inner and outer images.