grades
Pierre Cogny, Huysmans in search of unityParis, Nizet, 1953; id., Huysmans, from Writing to Writing. The author and his messageParis, Tequi, 1989.
Joris-Karl Huysmans. From Naturalism to Satanism and GodCatalog of the exhibition at the Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal from July 7 to 22, 1979, Paris, Éditions de la BNF, 1979.
This notion of mask has already been posed: Carine Roucan, “J.-K. Huysmans and his masks. The anti-hero of Les Esseintes and the non-hero Durtal”, in Jérôme Solal (dir.), Countdown, attraction-disaster, volume I, Paris, Classiques Garnier, coll. “The Journal of Modern Letters”, 2018, p. 1-42.
This question was actually studied by Jean Borie in the chapter “Religion – The conversion of an aesthete” of the book Huysmans. The Devil, the Bachelor and God, Paris, Grasset, 1991, p. 241-248; then by Carine Roucan in chapters IV (“Durtal, double of Huysmans”) and V (“The system of characters”) of the work resulting from her thesis defended under the direction of Florence Naugrette, The “Roman de Durtal” by Joris-Karl Huysmans: an autofiction?, Chisinau, European University Editions, 2011, p. 134-269.
Alice de Georges here quotes Saint John, I, 14 (p. 112).
It is also appropriate here to specify the references of the articles which study dreams in J.-K. Huysmans: David Martens, “Onirism in Huysmans: keys to reading” The Roman Letters, volume LVI – n° 1-2, 2002, p. 91-113; Yves Vadé, “Oneirism and symbolism:Stranded at Cathedral », Journal of Human Sciences, no. 170-171, 1978, p. 244-253; Carine Roucan, “Durtal’s Dreams”, in J.-K. Huysmans: Literature and religion, Rennes, Rennes University Press, 2009, URL: http://books.openedition.org/pur/38953DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/books.pur.38953 ; Dominique Millet, “Preface”, in On the way, ed. Dominique Millet, Paris, Gallimard, coll. “Classic Folio”, 1996, p. 40-48.
Aude Jeannerod, “From brushstroke to glance: painting description”, Jérôme Solal (dir.), Huysmans in brief, Paris, Classiques Garnier, coll. “The Journal of Modern Letters”, n° 8, 2022, p. 193-206. See as well id.“Showing the invisible and saying the unspeakable: divine images and languages in the writings on art of Joris-Karl Huysmans”, in textimagen° 2, summer 2010, online, consulted on 10/12/2022: http://www.revue-textimage.com/05_varia_2/jeannerod1.html ; “The genre of art criticism in Joris-Karl Huysmans: fiction or non-fiction? », Review of Literary History of France111e year, n° 2, April-June 2011, p. 341-356; “The optics and the haptics in the art criticism of Joris-Karl Huysmans”, in Interfaces. Image, text, language, no. 36, coll. “Synesthesia/Synaesthesia”, 2015, p. 127-141; “”To wash the eye”: Huysmans facing Monet and Pissarro”, in Jérôme Solal (dir.), The Journal of Modern Lettersn° 4, “Huysmans and the arts”, Paris, Garnier Classics, 2016, p. 17-39; Art Criticism by Joris-Karl Huysmans. Aesthetics, poetics, ideology, Paris, Classiques Garnier, coll. “Romantic and Nineteenth-century Studies”, 2020.
See Michel Lioure, “Huysmans and Grünewald, rhetoric, aesthetics, mysticism”, in Huysmans: an aesthetic of decadence, Paris, Honoré Champion, 1987, p. 261-270; Vincent Jouve, The character-effect in the novel, Paris, PUF, coll. “Writing”, 1992, p. 104-105; Alain Buisin, Huysmans on edge. The Taste of the Primitives, Arras, Artois university press, 2004; Nicolas Vallaza, “From the “divine mass grave” to the “triumph of the flesh”: Huysmans facing the painting of Grünewald”, in “The religions of the nineteenthe century “, Lyon, Proceedings of the SERD colloquium, 2009; Delphine Durand, “From the epiphany of poison to the dance of treponemes. A Huysmansian pictorial contamination”, in Jérôme Solal (dir.), The Journal of Modern Letters, n° 4, “Huysmans and the arts”, Paris, Classiques Garnier, 2016, p. 119-131.
Gilles Bonnet, The comic writing of Joris-Karl Huysmans, Paris, Honoré Champion, coll. “Romanticism and modernity”, 2003.
It is also necessary to indicate the precise source which seems to give rise to this part: Jean Borie, Huysmans. The Devil, the Bachelor and God, Paris, Grasset, 1991, coll. “The kitchen”, p. 143-190.
Gaël Prigent, “The Huysmansian ekphrasis or description in the second degree”, in Poetics of the descriptive in the French novel of xixe century, Paris, Classiques Garnier, coll. “Encounters”, 2016, p. 99-114.
Aude Jeannerod, Art Criticism by Joris-Karl Huysmans. Aesthetics, poetics, ideology, Paris, Classiques Garnier, coll. “Romantic and Nineteenth-century Studies”, 2020.
Francesca Guglielmi, “Huysmans and the art of the portrait”, Italian journal of French studies, n° 11, 2021, published on November 15, 2021, consulted on October 24, 2022. URL: ; DOI:
See Pierre Glaudes, “Symbolism and “aesthetic language game” in Cathedral », in Valeria De Gregorio Cirillo and Mario Pétrone (eds.), J.-K. Huysmans, the modernity of an antimodern, Naples, L’Orientale, 2003, p. 287-301; id.“Space and symbol in Cathedral by Joris-Karl Huysmans, Research and WorksNo. 58, “Literature and Spirituality, Tribute to Pierrette Renard”, 2000, p. 111-120.
Dominique Millet, “Time and landscape in On the way : the writer’s mirror”, in Marc Smeets (dir.), Joris-Karl Huysmans, Amsterdam-New York, Rodopi, 2003, p. 51-63; id.“Preface”, in Joris-Karl Huysmans, On the way, Paris, Gallimard, coll. “Folio”, 1996, p. 7-39.