Sac-Au-Dos

Charles-Marie-Georges Huysmans (1848-1907) was a French novelist who published his works as Joris-Karl Huysmans, he is most famous for the novel À Rebours. His style is remarkable for its idiosyncratic use of the French language, wide-ranging vocabulary, wealth of detailed and sensuous description, and biting, satirical wit. The novels are also noteworthy for their encyclopaedic documentation, ranging from the catalogue of decadent Latin authors in À Rebours to the discussion of the symbology of Christian architecture in La Cathédrale (1898). Huysmans' work expresses a disgust with modern life and a deep pessimism, which led the author first to the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer then to the teachings of the Catholic Church. His first major publication was a collection of prose poems, heavily influenced by Baudelaire, called Le Drageoir à Épices (1874). His next works were in a similar vein: sombre, realistic and filled with minutely detailed evocations of Paris, the city Huysmans kn