Miss Urania, the American

Huysmans presents Des Esseintes as a character who isolates himself to escape the American mores of his time. The article considers the implications of the Americanness of Miss Urania, the circus acrobat with whom the decadent aristocrat dreams of having a “sexual exchange.” Taking into account the model provided by Goncourt’s “La Tompkins” in Les Frères Zemganno, the article proposes a historical, political, and aesthetic interpretation of Des Esseintes’ erotic fantasy.