J -K Huysmans

Nuori herttua Jean des Esseintes, vanhan aatelissuvun viimeinen jälkeläinen, hankkii syrjäisen talon Pariisin esikaupungista ja pyrkii korvaamaan varsinaisen todellisuuden omalla haavetodellisuudellaan. Ranskalainen prosaisti J.-K. Huysmans (1848-1907) tuli tunnetuksi naturalistina mutta hylkäsi koulukuntansa ideat tylysti tässä romaanissaan. Vuonna 1884 ilmestynyt Vastahankaan on antimoderniuden klassikko, kirjallisen dandyismin perusteksti, dekadenssin raamattu ja ranskalaisen romantiikan päätös. Vuonna 1884 ilmestynyt Vastahankaan on 1800-luvun lopun ranskalaisen kirjallisuuden maineikkaimpia edustajia. Se on kirjallinen kummajainen, johon on liitetty monia sanoja ja asioita, kuten dekadenssi, dandyismi ja fin de siecle... Monet tuntevat teoksen Oscar Wilden Dorian Grayn muotokuvasta, jossa siihen (epäsuorasti) viitataan Dorianin rappiota edistävänä myrkyllisenä kirjana. Vastahankaan on kaikessa maineensa veroinen mutta silti yllättävä, ristiriitainen romaani. Dekadenssin, fantasian ja estetismin lisäksi se sisältää harrasta ja vakavamielistä pohdintaa modernin ihmisen uskonnollisesta kaipuusta. Mukana on myös runsaasti pikkutarkkaa taide- ja kirjallisuuskritiikkiä. Teoksessa hahmotellaan uutta lopunajan estetiikkaa, äärimmäisyyteen vietyä romantiikkaa.

J.-K. Huysmans' Stranded (En Rade 1887), published just three years after the iconoclastic Against Nature, sees him again breaking new ground and pushing back the boundaries of the novel form. Stamped throughout with his characteristic black humour, Stranded is one of Huysmans' most innovative, most imaginative works. Jacques' waking reveries and daydreams are balanced by a succession of dreams and nightmares that explore the seemingly irrational, often grotesque, world of unconscious desire, producing a series of images that are as unforgettable and unsettling as anything to be found in the decadent fantasies of Against Nature, or the satanic obsessions of L -bas. Hounded by creditors and gripped by a deep existential gloom, Jacques Marles decides to flee Paris for the countryside, hoping to find shelter from the financial storms raging around his head, hoping to find peace. But Jacques soon discovers he cannot escape the problems of modern city life by hiding in the country. Stuck with his sick wife, Louise, in an abandoned ch teau that seems to be rotting to pieces around them, Jacques waits for money to arrive with nothing to do but give himself up to his increasingly disturbing dreams

When the novelist, Durtal, is disgusted with the modern world, Durtal goes on a journey to study the Middle Ages. While doing this research, Durtal discovers the notorious criminal Gilles de Rais. Due to his study of de Rais, Durtal discovers that Satanism is not just a phenomenon of the past but is active in his home country of France. Durtal goes on an investigation of the hidden world of the occult, and the investigation comes to a climax with Durtal witnessing the Black Mass. This novel was originally controversial when first published and remains so today. While many people rebuke the Black Mass practiced by certain groups, the reality is that the Black Mass was originally a piece of fiction from this novel that was adopted by these groups for the sole purpose of angering Christians and Christian churches. These groups succeeded in angering Christians even though the Black Mass is nothing but ridiculous buffoonery no different in genuineness than a circus show. What this novel also shows is just how little about the occult a large majority of Christians truly know, despite many who even claim to have come out of the occult and use that claim to falsely claim legitimacy in their church. Uyl provides a detailed Introduction showing how Christians do not know as much as they claim about the occult along with the hoaxers they have chosen to believe simply because ... they want to, even if what they are being told by those hoaxers is not the truth about the occult at all.