Là-Bas is a novel by the
FrenchThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
writer
Joris-Karl HuysmansCharles-Marie-Georges Huysmans was a French novelist who published his works as Joris-Karl Huysmans . He is most famous for the novel À rebours...
, first published in 1891. It is Huysmans' most famous work after
À reboursÀ rebours is a novel by the French writer Joris-Karl Huysmans...
. Là-Bas deals with the subject of
SatanismSatanism is a group of religions that is composed of a diverse number of ideological and philosophical beliefs and social phenomena. Their shared feature include symbolic association with, admiration for the character of, and even veneration of Satan or similar rebellious, promethean, and...
in contemporary France, and the novel stirred a certain amount of controversy on its first appearance. It is the first of Huysmans' books to feature the character Durtal, a thinly disguised portrait of the author himself, who would be the protagonist of all Huysmans' subsequent novels:
En routeEn route is a novel by the French writer Joris-Karl Huysmans, first published in 1895. It is the second of Huysmans' books to feature the character Durtal, a thinly disguised portrait of the author himself. Durtal had already appeared in Là-Bas, investigating Satanism...
, La cathédrale and
L'oblatL'Oblat is the last novel by the French writer Joris-Karl Huysmans, first published in 1903. It is the final book in Huysmans' cycle of four novels featuring the character Durtal, a thinly disguised portrait of the author himself...
.
Là-Bas was first published in serial form by the newspaper
L'Écho de ParisL'Écho de Paris was a daily newspaper in Paris from 1884 to 1944.The paper's editorial stance was initially conservative and nationalistic, although it did later become close to the French Socialist Party. Its writers included Octave Mirbeau, Georges Clemenceau, Henry Bordeaux, François Mitterrand,...
, with the first installment appearing on February 15, 1891. It came out in book form in April of the same year; the publisher was Tresse et Stock. Many of L'Écho de Paris more conservative readers were shocked by the subject matter and urged the editor to halt the serialisation, but he ignored them. Sale of the book was prohibited from French railway stations.
The plot of Là-Bas concerns the novelist Durtal, who is disgusted at the emptiness and vulgarity of the modern world. He seeks relief by turning to the study of the
Middle AgesThe Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
and begins to research the life of the notorious 15th-century child-murderer
Gilles de RaisGilles de Montmorency-Laval , Baron de Rais, was a Breton knight, a leader in the French army and a companion-in-arms of Joan of Arc. He is best known as a prolific serial killer of children...
. Through his contacts in Paris (notably Dr. Johannes, modeled after
Joseph-Antoine BoullanAbbé Joseph-Antoine Boullan was a French Roman Catholic priest and later a laicized priest, who is often accused of being a satanist although he continued to defend his status as a christian.He was a friend and inspiration of the writer Joris Karl Huysmans...
), Durtal finds out that Satanism is not simply a thing of the past but alive in modern France. He embarks on an investigation of the occult underworld with the help of his lover Madame Chantelouve. The novel culminates with a description of a
black massA Black Mass is a ceremony supposedly celebrated during the Witches' Sabbath, which was a sacrilegious parody of the Catholic Mass. Its main objective was the profanation of the host, although there is no agreement among authors on how hosts were obtained or profaned; the most common idea is that...
.
Sources
- Robert Baldick The Life of J.-K. Huysmans (OUP, 1955; revised by Brendan King, Dedalus, 2006)
- Là-bas: A Journey into the Self translated by Brendan King (Dedalus, 2001)
- Là-Bas translated as The Damned by Terry Hale (Penguin Classics, 2001)
External links