Les dandys mangent-ils?

This study takes into consideration four fin-de-siècle novels in which the hero emerges as a dandy: À rebours by Huysmans (1884), Les Lauriers sont coupés by Dujardin (1887), Monsieur de Bougrelon (1897) and Les Noronsoff by Lorrain (1901). The article examines different incarnations of the dandy in varied settings and environments. It explores the ties that bind the need for food and for aesthetic delight, the sociability of meals, the pleasures of the table, the splenetic conditioning. Specific references show an interplay of textual echoes, discrepancies and convergences with literary models from the first half of the century and the tradition of the souper intime.