La-bas: Down There

Author:   J. K. Huysmans ,  Robert Irwin
Publisher:   Dedalus Ltd
Edition:   New edition
ISBN:  

9781873982747


Pages:   304
Publication Date:   29 April 2009
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
Limited stock is available. It will be ordered for you and shipped pending supplier's limited stock.

Our Price $36.93 Quantity:  
Add to Cart

Share |

La-bas: Down There


Add your own review!

Overview

Cult curio about satanism in fin-de-siecle Paris. The classic tale of satanism and sexual obsession in nineteenth-century Paris, in an attractive new edition...Strong meat for diseased imaginations (Murrough O'Brien in The Independent on Sunday) This superb new translation by Brendan King vividly recalls the allusive, proto-expressionist vigour of the original.

Full Product Details

Author:   J. K. Huysmans ,  Robert Irwin
Publisher:   Dedalus Ltd
Imprint:   Dedalus Ltd
Edition:   New edition
Dimensions:   Width: 12.60cm , Height: 2.50cm , Length: 19.80cm
Weight:   0.340kg
ISBN:  

9781873982747


ISBN 10:   1873982747
Pages:   304
Publication Date:   29 April 2009
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Out of Print
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
Limited stock is available. It will be ordered for you and shipped pending supplier's limited stock.

Table of Contents

Reviews

The classic tale of satanism and sexual obsession in nineteenth-century Paris, in an attractive new edition...Strong meat for diseased imaginations. --Time Out


The classic tale of satanism and sexual obsession in nineteenth-century Paris, in an attractive new edition...Strong meat for diseased imaginations. --Time Out


Under the series title 'Decadence' and with an Aubrey Beardsley cover illustration there could be no clearer indication, even to the most naive reader, as to the nature of the work. La-Bas (The Damned) is a record of the moral decline its author saw in late 19th-century France. Its relevance today lies in the recognition of similar maladies in contemporary society. In making a literary statement, Huysmans is very clear and direct. The opening chapters are a rejection of the programme of the French naturalists, with whom he had previously been associated. He is equally direct in voicing, through his protagonist, Durtal, his views on the arts, contemporary science and spiritualism. For all these reasons, and for a richness of detail in the mental and physical life in 19th-century France, the novel is a fascinating social document. The absence of traditional plot structure, character development or of closure suggests the work is less of a novel, more a thinly veiled autobiography - a diary of the developing spiritual life of the author. It represents the second leg of this five-part journey, following on from Against Nature and preceding En Route, The Cathedral and The Oblate of St Benedict. Enveloped within the framing narrative of Huysman's survey of fin-de-siecle life is the history of Gilles de Rais, aka Bluebeard, the most infamous satanist of the Middle Ages. Through what appears today to be a rather clunky literary device of Durtal recapping his research, either to himself or to his friends, we learn of Bluebeard's rampages and the spiritual backdrop of the times. In comparing the social consciences of the two eras, Huysmans sees a degeneration to the present day. For the social historian, the bloodthirsty or the gloom-monger who sees in history only a steady moral decline, La-Bas provides strong meat. It is certainly not a work for the faint-hearted or the sensitive soul. (Kirkus UK)


The classic tale of satanism and sexual obsession in nineteenth-century Paris, in an attractive new edition...Strong meat for diseased imaginations. --Time Out


Author Information

Born in Paris in 1848 and acknowledged as a principal architect of the fin-de-siecle imagination, Joris-Karl Huysmans was a career civil servant who wrote ten novels, most notably A Rebours (1884) and L�-Bas (1891). Huysmans died in 1907.

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

No review item found!

Add your own review!

Countries Available

All regions
Latest Reading Guide

ls

Shopping Cart
Your cart is empty
Shopping cart
Mailing List