Wikipedia

Là-bas(novel)

For other uses, seeLà-bas (disambiguation).

Là-Bas(French pronunciation:[laba]), translated asDown ThereorThe Damned,is a novel by the French writerJoris-Karl Huysmans,first published in 1891. It is Huysmans's most famous work afterÀ rebours.Là-Basdeals with the subject ofSatanismin contemporary France, and the novel stirred a certain amount of controversy on its first appearance. It is the first of Huysmans's books to feature the character Durtal,[1]a thinly disguised portrait of the author himself, who would go on to be the protagonist of all of Huysmans's subsequent novels:En route,La cathédraleandL'oblat.

Là-bas
Title page of the first edition ofLà-bas.
AuthorJoris-Karl Huysmans
LanguageFrench
GenreNovel
PublisherTresse & Stock
Publication date
1891
Publication placeFrance
Pages441

History and plot

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Là-Baswas first published in serial form by the newspaperL'Écho de Paris,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 ofL'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 ofLà-Basconcerns the novelist Durtal, who is disgusted by the emptiness and vulgarity of the modern world. He seeks relief by turning to the study of theMiddle Ages(chapter one contains the first critical appreciation ofMatthias Grünewald'sTauberbischofsheim altarpiece) and begins to research the life of the notorious 15th-century child-murderer and torturerGilles de Rais.Through his contacts in Paris (notably Dr. Johannès, modeled afterJoseph-Antoine Boullan), Durtal finds out that Satanism is not simply a thing of the past but alive in turn of the century 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 aBlack Mass.

Reception

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Dave LangfordreviewedLà-BasforWhite Dwarf#88, and described it as "A lurid and influential book, containing that famous description of the Black Mass attended by Huysmans himself."[2]

Adaptations

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Norman Mailerwrote ascreenplay[3]and a short story he adapted from it[4][5]based on Huysmans'sLà-BasentitledTrial of the Warlock.[6]This work was translated intoJapaneseby Hidekatsu Nojima and published as a book entitledKuro-Misa(Black Mass) byShueishain 1977.[7]

Luis BuñuelandJean-Claude Carrièrewrote a screenplay based on the novel but it was never filmed.

References

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  1. ^Roussel, Frédérique (25 October 2019)."Le pessimisme est un humanisme: Huysmans en Pléiade".Libération(in French).Retrieved8 May2021.
  2. ^Langford, Dave(April 1987). "Critical Mass".White Dwarf.No. 88.Games Workshop.p. 8.
  3. ^"Trial of the Warlock: Screenplay, 1976 - 1244 pages"
  4. ^Playboy Stories: The Best of Forty Years of Short Fiction,pp. 333-370
  5. ^The short story has elements of the screenplay, such as "As we hear the conversation of Durtal and Des Hermies, the titles begin and the camera offers us the print [of aCrucifixionbyMatthias Grünewald] to examine. "Playboy Stories,p. 336.
  6. ^Norman Mailer: Works and DaysArchived2016-09-17 at theWayback Machine.Published inPlayboy,December 1976. Reprinted in Turner, Alice K., ed.,Playboy Stories: The Best of Forty Years of Short Fiction.Dutton, 1994, pp. 333-370.
  7. ^amazon.com.Japan's page

Sources

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  • Robert BaldickThe Life of J.-K. Huysmans(OUP, 1955; revised by Brendan King, Dedalus, 2006)
  • Là-bas: A Journey into the Selftranslated by Brendan King (Dedalus, 2001)
  • Là-Bastranslated asThe Damnedby Terry Hale (Penguin Classics, 2001)

Further reading

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  • Antosh, Ruth (2024).J.-K. Huysmans.London: Reaktion Books.
  • Bales, Richard (1992)."Huysmans'Là-Bas:The Apotheosis of the Word ",Orbis Litterarum: International Review of Literary Studies,Vol. 47, No. 4, pp. 209–225.
  • Huddleston, Sisley(1928).Articles de Paris.New York: The Macmillan Company, pp. 92–95.
  • Ziegler, Robert (1982). "The Literary Experience of History in Huysmans' Là-Bas,"West Virginia University Philological Papers,Vol. 28, pp. 62–69.
  • Ziegler, Robert (1989). "Consumption, Death, and Textual Generation in Huysmans' Là-Bas,"Degre Second: Studies in French Literature,Vol. 12, pp. 69–76.
  • Ziegler, Robert (1999). "The Holy Sepulcher and the Resurrected Text in Huysmans's Là-Bas,"French Forum,Vol. 24, No. 1, pp. 33–45.
  • Ziegler, Robert (2002). "The Artist in Utopia: J.-K. Huysmans' Là-bas and Octave Mirbeau's La 628-E8." In:Beauty Raises the Dead: Literature and Loss in the Fin-de-siècle.University of Delaware Press, Newark/ Associated University Presses, London, pp. 114–145.
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