Joris karl huysmans biography definition

Chronology

Perhaps the best complete biography of Huysmans is Robert Baldick’s The Life of J.-K. Huysmans. The book was originally published in English by the Clarendon Press in 1955 — a new revised edition is now available from Dedalus Books — and there have been two French editions published by Editions Denoël, in 1958 and 1975. Below is a brief chronology of Huysmans’ life and work.

1848. Born Charles-Marie-Georges Huysmans on 5th February.

1856. His father, Godfried Huysmans dies on 24th June. Soon after, his widow, Malvina takes the family to live at her parents, at No.11 Rue de Sèvres. Huysmans begins studying at the Institution Hortus, at No. 94 Rue du Bac.

1857. Malvina remarries a Protestant businessman, Jules Og.

1866. On 7th March, Huysmans obtains his Baccalaureate. On 1st April, Huysmans begins work as an employé de sixième classe at the ministère de l’Intérieur et des Cultes.

1867. Publishes his first article on 27th November, a piece entitled ’Des paysagistes contemporains’ in La Revue Mensuelle.

1874. Publishes his first collection of poems in prose, Le Drageoir à épices, at his own expense, under the name by which he is now known, Joris-Karl Huysmans. The following year the book was republished under the title Le Drageoir aux épices.

1876. Publishes his first novel, Marthe, histoire d’une fille.

1877. Publishes four articles in the Brussels-based magazine L’Actualité under the title ’Emile Zola et L’Assommoir’. In them, Huysmans presents Zola as a model writer, almost as a typical bourgeois, and defends his right to treat all aspects of modern life in his books.

1879. Publishes his second novel, Les Soeurs Vatard.

1880. Publication of ’Sac au dos’ in Les Soirées de Médan. Publication of

French novelist and art critic (1848–1907)

Charles-Marie-Georges Huysmans (,French:[ʃaʁlmaʁiʒɔʁʒɥismɑ̃s]; 5 February 1848 – 12 May 1907) was a French novelist and art critic who published his works as Joris-Karl Huysmans (French:[ʒɔʁiskaʁl-], variably abbreviated as J. K. or J.-K.). He is most famous for the novel À rebours (1884, published in English as Against the Grain and as Against Nature). He supported himself by way of a 30-year career in the French civil service.

Huysmans's work is considered remarkable for its idiosyncratic use of the French language, large vocabulary, descriptions, satirical wit and far-ranging erudition. First considered part of Naturalism, he became associated with the Decadent movement with his publication of À rebours. His work expressed his deep pessimism, which had led him to the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer. In later years, his novels reflected his study of Catholicism, religious conversion, and becoming an oblate. He discussed the iconography of Christian architecture at length in La cathédrale (1898), set at Chartres and with its cathedral as the focus of the book.

Huysmans' novel Là-bas (1891) concerns the novelist Durtal, who researches Satanism and the 15th-century child-murderer Gilles de Rais. It was followed by the Durtal trilogy, comprising En route (1895), La cathédrale (1898), and L'Oblat (1903), in which Durtal takes a spiritual journey and eventually converts to Catholicism; in L'Oblat, he becomes an oblate in a monastery, as Huysmans himself was in the Benedictine Abbey at Ligugé, near Poitiers, in 1901.La cathédrale was his most commercially successful work. Its profits enabled Huysmans to retire from his civil service job and live on his royalties.

Biography

Early life

Huysmans was born in Paris, France, in 1848. "His young mother, Élisabeth-Malvi

French writer and art critic, who was first associated with Émile Zola and the naturalist group and then joined the French Decadent Movement. Huysmans "was a greater artist than Zola," wrote Ford Madox Ford in The March of Literature (1938), "left the cathedrals and highways of this world in 1907, and I do not suppose that once in any year you will hear his name mentioned where people talk of books." Huysmans' conversion through Satanism to Catholicism, from obsession with bizarre sensations to the search of spiritual life, can be followed in such works as À Rebours (1884), Là-Bas (1891), and La Cathédrale (1898).

Joris-Karl Huysmans was born Charles-Marie-Georges Huysmans in Paris of mixed parentage. On his father's side he was of Dutch descent; his mother, Elisabeth-Malvina Badin, was a French. After Huysmans' father died, Elisabeth-Malvina married Jules Og, a Protestant businessman. The early loss of his father remained a traumatic childhood experience for Huysmans. He faithfully kept some of his painting � his father had been a commercial artist. Huysmans studied at the Lycee Saint-Louis, receiving in 1866 his baccalaureate. At the age of twenty, he obtained a post at the Ministry of the Interior; there he remained for 32 year, combining writing with work. Huysmans' first book, Le drageoir aux épices (1874, A Dish of Spices), was a collection of prose poems in the manner of Charles Baudelaire. When it was rejected by several publishers, he finally printed it at his own expense under the name Joris-Karl Huysmans. Later he invented the famous initials "J.-K.". The book received attention of major writers, including Emile Zola, and was followed by a number of naturalistic novels, such as Marthe (1876), Les soeurs Vatard (1879), and En ménage (1881). During the Franco-Prussian war of 1870, Huysmans served in the army. The novella Sac au dos (1880), based on his experiences from this period, wa

French writer and art critic, who was first associated with �mile Zola and the naturalist group and then joined the French Decadent Movement. J.-K. Huysmans' conversion through Satanism to Catholicism, from obsession with bizarre sensations to the search of spiritual life, can be followed in such works as � Rebours (1884, Against the Grain), L�-Bas (1891, La Bas), and La Cath�drale (1898, The Cathedral).

Indeed, each several liquor corresponded, so he held, in taste with the sound of a particular instrument. Dry cura�ao, for instance, was like the clarinet with its shrill, velvet note; k�mmel like the oboe, whose timber is sonorous and nasal; cr�me de menthe and anisette like the flute, and one and the same time sweet and poignant, whining and soft. Then, to complete the orchestra, comes kirsch, blowing a wild trumpet blast; gin and whisky, deafening the palate with their harsh outbursts of cornets and trombones; liqueur brandy, blaring with the overwhelming crash of the tubas, while the thunder peals of the cymbals and the big drum, beaten might and main, are reproduced in the mouth by the rakis of Chios and the mastics. (from Against the Grain (A Rebours), with an introduction by Havelock Ellis, Dover Publications, 1969, pp.  44-45)

Joris-Karl Huysmans was born Charles-Marie-Georges Huysmans in Paris of mixed parentage. On his father's side he was of Dutch descent; his mother, Elisabeth-Malvina Badin, was a French. After Huysmans' father died, Elisabeth-Malvina married Jules Og, a Protestant businessman. The early loss of his father remained a traumatic childhood experience for Huysmans. He faithfully kept some of his painting – his father had been a commercial artist. Huysmans studied at the Lycee Saint-Louis, receiving in 1866 his baccalaureate. At the age of twenty, Huysmans obtained a post at the Ministry of the Interior; there he remained for 32 year, combining writing with work.

Huysmans' first book, Le drageoir aux �p