Prose pour des Esseintes
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| - | ==Writing career== | + | [[Stéphane Mallarmé]] was so pleased with the publicity his verse had received from ''[[A Rebours]]'' that he dedicated one of his most famous (and most obscure) poems, ''[[Prose pour des Esseintes]]'' to its hero, the [[Aesthetics|aesthete]] [[des Esseintes]]. |
| - | His first major publication was a collection of prose poems, heavily influenced by [[Baudelaire]], called ''Le drageoir à épices'' ([[1874]]). They attracted little attention but already revealed flashes of the author's distinctive style. Huysmans followed it with ''[[Marthe]], Histoire d'une fille'' ([[1876]]). The story of a young prostitute, it was much closer to [[Naturalism (literature)|Naturalism]] and brought him to the attention of [[Emile Zola]]. His next works were in a similar vein: sombre, realistic and filled with minutely detailed evocations of Paris, the city Huysmans knew intimately. ''Les Soeurs Vatard'' deals with the lives of women in a bookbindery. ''En Ménage'' is an account of a writer's failed marriage (Huysmans himself never married, but had a long-term mistress called Anna Meunier). The climax of this early period is the novella ''À vau-l'eau (Downstream or With the Flow)'', the story of a downtrodden clerk, Monsieur Folantin, and his heroic and futile quest for a decent meal. | + | |
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| - | This was followed by Huysmans' most famous novel ''[[À rebours]]'' (''Against the Grain'' or ''Against Nature'') ([[1884]]), which featured a single [[Fictional_character|character]], the [[Aesthetics|aesthete]] [[des Esseintes]], and decisively broke from Naturalism, becoming the ultimate example of "[[decadent movement|decadent]]" literature. ''À rebours'' gained further notoriety as an exhibit during the trials of [[Oscar Wilde]] in [[1895]], during which the prosecutor referred to the novel as a "[[Sodomy|sodomitical]]" book. The book also appalled Zola, who felt it had dealt a "terrible blow" to Naturalism. Huysmans began to drift away from the Naturalists and found new friends among the [[Symbolist]] and [[Catholic]] writers whose work he had praised in ''À rebours'', including [[Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly]], [[Villiers de L'Isle Adam]] and [[Léon Bloy]]. [[Stéphane Mallarmé]] was so pleased with the publicity his verse had received from the novel that he dedicated one of his most famous (and most obscure) poems, ''[[Prose pour des Esseintes]]'' to its hero. | + | |
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| - | Huysmans' next novel, ''En rade'', a highly unromantic account of a summer spent in the country, was relatively unsuccessful commercially. In [[1891]], the publication of ''[[Là-Bas (Down There)]]'' attracted considerable attention for its depiction of [[Satanism]] in late [[1880s]] France. The book introduced the character Durtal, a thinly disguised portrait of the author. The later Durtal novels, ''[[En Route (novel)|En Route]]'' ([[1895]]), ''[[La Cathédrale]]'' ([[1898]]) and ''L'Oblat'' ([[1903]]), trace Durtal/Huysmans' conversion to [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholicism]]. ''[[En Route (novel)|En Route]]'' depicts Durtal's spiritual struggle during his stay at a Trappist monastery. ''[[La Cathédrale]]'' finds the protagonist at [[Chartres]], making an intense study of the cathedral and its symbolism. In ''L'Oblat'', Durtal becomes a Benedictine oblate, finally reaching an acceptance of the suffering in the world. | + | |
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| - | Huysmans was also known for his [[art criticism]]: ''[[L'Art moderne]]'' ([[1883]]) and ''[[Certains]]'' ([[1889]]). He was an early advocate of [[Impressionism]], as well as an admirer of such artists as [[Gustave Moreau]] and [[Odilon Redon]]. He was a founding member of the [[Académie Goncourt]]. | + | |
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| - | Huysmans was made a Chevalier de la [[Légion d'honneur]] in 1892, but only for his work with the civil service. In 1905, his admirers persuaded the French government to promote him to Officier de la Légion d'honneur in view of his literary achievements. In the same year, Huysmans was diagnosed with cancer of the mouth. Joris-Karl Huysmans was interred in the [[Cimetière de Montparnasse]], Paris. | + | |
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Stéphane Mallarmé was so pleased with the publicity his verse had received from A Rebours that he dedicated one of his most famous (and most obscure) poems, Prose pour des Esseintes to its hero, the aesthete des Esseintes.
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