As a fin de siècle literary figure, Huysmans is certainly characterized by contrasts and contradictions: indeed, he is perhaps the only writer in French literary history who, in a double paradox, followed both the Naturalist and the Symbolist movements and then abandoned both in order to become first an Occult, and then a Catholic novelist. Born in Paris in 1848 to a French schoolmistress and a Dutch lithographer, he was also marked by a double national heritage that he would carry through his entire life: called Charles-Marie-Georges Huysmans at birth, he would later sign his works as Joris-Karl Huysmans, or simply J.-K. Huysmans, using the Dutch equivalents of two of his French forenames. It is also …
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Citation: Grigorian, Natasha. "Joris-Karl Huysmans". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 November 2010 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2286, accessed 21 November 2024.]
