Fanaux du vieil espoir: The Aesthetics of Reversion in Joris-Karl Huysmans’ Roman de Durtal [Fanaux du vieil espoir. L’esthétique de réversion du Roman de Durtal de Joris-Karl Huysmans]

Abstract

Joris-Karl Huysmans’ Catholic tetralogy, composed of the novels Là-bas (1891), En route (1895), La Cathédrale (1898), and L’Oblat (1903), offers the reader a buffet of sensorial delights, an aesthetic methodology that follows the structure of À rebours while circumscribing it within the framework of orthodox faith. This article examines how Huysmans manipulates aesthetic experience as a conduit for metaphysical belief, elaborating a mechanism whereby the senses function as an essential part of religiosity.

Keywords

• joris-karl huysmans
• durtal tetralogy
• decadence
• christianity
• aesthetic taste