À rebours
On the question of Huysmans' novel as an inspiration for the book in "Dorian Gray," Ellmann writes:Wilde does not name the book but at his trial he conceded that it was, or almost, Huysmans's "À rebours"... To a correspondent he wrote that he had played a 'fantastic variation' upon "À rebours" and some day must write it down. The references in "Dorian Gray" to specific chapters are deliberately inaccurate.