Joris-Karl Huysmans

1848–1907

2 standalone books

Joris-Karl Huysmans was a 19th century French novelist and art critic. He was born on 5 February 1848 in Paris, the son of a Dutch lithographer and a former school teacher. He worked in the French Ministry of the Interior for 32 years after earning the baccalauréat. Huysmans was drafted for the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 but was discharged due to dysentery. His first published book was a Décadent prose poem collection entitled Le drageoir à épices in 1874. His early works were written in the Naturalist school and praised by Émile Zola. His most famous work, À rebours, was published in 1884 and marked a shift in his style. It influenced Symbolist and Décadent writers, including Oscar Wilde. Huysmans later wrote Catholic literature, paralleling his conversion to Roman Catholicism. He became a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur in 1892 and an Officier in 1905. He died on 12 May 1907 and is buried in the Montparnasse cemetery in Paris.

Born

1848