| The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07. |
| |
| Huysmans, Joris Karl |
| |
| |
(zh r s´ kärl üsmäNs´) (KEY) , 1848–1907, French novelist and art critic of Dutch family. He was at first a disciple of Zola; typical of his early, naturalistic novels is Marthe (1876). His later, somewhat autobiographical novels record a spiritual quest of a man named Durtal. À rebours (1884, tr. Against the Grain, 1922) expresses the mood of the decadents, Là-bas (1891) a fascination with Satanism, En route (1895) the simplicity of monastic retreat, and La Cathédrale (1898) the full acceptance of Roman Catholicism. | 1 | | See biographies by H. R. Brandreth (1963) and G. R. Ridge (1968). | 2 |
| |
| | | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright © 2007 Columbia University Press. |
|
|
