Antropotecnias "fin de siècle": la subjetividad decadente de Jean Floressas des Esseintes

espanolConsiderada por muchos como la biblia del decadentismo, la novela A rebours (Al reves, A contrapelo o Contra natura, que de esas tres formas se ha traducido) publicada por Joris-Karl Huysmans en 1884, no solo recoge numerosos topicos del fin de siecle artistico y cultural, sino que ademas describe todo un conjunto de tecnicas que su protagonista, el duque Jean Floressas des Esseintes, va desarrollando minuciosamente para cultivar su propio yo estetizando hasta el extremo su vida y su entorno. Des Esseintes se hace con una vivienda en la que retirarse del mundo dedicandose al goce estetico individual. Todos los detalles decorativos y los objetos de la casa tienen un proposito relacionado con el cultivo de la subjetividad. La vida entera del personaje gira en torno a la produccion de experiencias esteticas y emocionales refinadas. Para ello pone en practica diversas tecnologias del yo que no solo afectan a su casa, sino tambien a su alimentacion, su indumentaria y sus actividades cotidianas. Esto es algo tipico de los dandis del siglo XIX, quienes concebian su modo de vida como una disciplina del cuerpo y del alma, una autentica ascesis. El personaje de Huysmans es representativo de una figura de la subjetividad propia de la Europa finisecular. Define uno de los innumerables perfiles que ha adquirido la subjetividad humana a lo largo de su historiogenesis. En este articulo nos proponemos analizar las tecnologias del yo empleadas por Des Esseintes poniendolas en relacion con su contexto sociocultural y con los nuevos saberes y practicas psicologicas de la epoca. EnglishThe novel A Rebours (Against the Grain or Against Nature) was published by Joris-Karl Huysmans in 1884, and is considered by many as the Bible of nineteenth-century decadence. It collects not only numerous topics about the artistic and cultural fin-de-siecle, but also describes a set of techniques that its protagonist, the Duke Jean Floressas des Esseintes, meticulously develops to cultivate his own self and to aestheticise to the extreme his life and environment. Des Esseintes bought a tenement in which to withdraw from the world and to engage in individual aesthetic joy. His entire life revolved around the production of refined aesthetic and emotional experiences, so all decorative and household objects had a purpose related to the cultivation of subjectivity. To this end, he implemented various technologies that not only affected his home, but also his food, clothing, and daily activities. Huysmans's character is representative of a figure of the subjectivity of the fin-de-siecle Europe. His behaviour is typical of nineteenth-century dandies, who conceived their way of life as a discipline of body and soul, a true ascetic. The novel defines one of the many profiles that human subjectivity has acquired in the course of its historiogenesis. The aim of this paper is to analyse the technologies of the self that Des Esseintes employed, relating them to their socio-cultural context and the new psychological knowledge and practices of the time.