Joris-Karl Huysmans (1848 - 1907)

Joris-Karl Huysmans

Joris-Karl Huysmans, real name Harles-Georges-Marie Huysmans, was a French writer and poet, the first president of the Goncourt Academy.

Huysmans' father was Dutch, and he always emphasized this fact. At the age of 20, the aspiring writer began working as an official in the French Ministry of the Interior, where he served all his life.

Huysmans received the greatest fame thanks to the novel À rebours ("Against Nature"). The main appeal of this writer's work lies in its autobiographical content. And his style is characterized by a wide vocabulary of the French language, a wealth of detailed and sensual descriptions, as well as sharp satirical wit. The novels are also notable for their encyclopedic documentation, ranging from a catalog of decadent Latin authors in À rebours to a discussion of the symbolism of Christian architecture in La Cathédrale.

In his work, Huysmans expresses a distaste for modern life and a deep pessimism, but in his writings one can trace the stages of intellectual life in late nineteenth-century France. Joris-Karl Huysmans was one of the earliest proponents of Impressionism. He was also a renowned literary critic and one of the founders and first president of the Goncourt Academy.