Books by J. K. Huysmans

One who seeks to discover the brutal reality of fin-de-siècle French bourgeoisie society, will find it here, in Huysmans's melancholy tale. Class struggles form the background of this harrowing tale; Huysmans uses steadily devolving arguments over family fortune to comment on interclass inequality in 19th century France. The greed of bourgeoisie men prevail: their dilemma vastly disparate to those of lesser fortune. A truly mordant tale, A Dilemma reflects the deeply depressing reality of class prejudice. This translation is brought to you by Aaron J. Clarke, whose tireless work allows this story to be read here, in contemporary Australia. Clarke sees the value of this profoundly moving tale and its ironic prevalence today.

First published in 1880, same year as Edgar Degas' "The Dancing Lesson and Edouard Manet's solo show, these "Parisian Sketches share the Impressionist fascination with the contemporary life of Paris, the exuberant Paris of the Opera Garnier and the Folies-Bergers. Like the striking images of the early Impressionists, "Parisian Sketches is an assault on the visual senses. Composed of a series of intense, meticulously observed literary impressions--of cafe concerts and circus performers, of streetwalkers and hot-chestnut sellers, of forgotten quarters in the grimy, shiny 'City of Light'--"Parisian Sketches recreates Paris with an intimacy and immediacy that confirms Huysmans as one of the masters of 19th century French prose.

Against Nature is Huysmans's great fin-de-sicle novel anticipating many strains of modernism in its appreciation of Baudelaire, Moreau, Redon, Mallarm and Poe. A novel like no other, it features a hero, des Esseintes, a neurasthenic aristocrat who has turned his back on the vulgarity of modern life and retreated to an isolated country villa. Here, accompanied only by two silent servants, he pursues his obsessions with exotic flowers, rare gems, and complex perfumes, embarking on a series of increasingly strange aesthetic experiments, starting with the decision to give his giant pet tortoise a jewel-encrusted shell.