''Là-Bas'' (), translated as ''Down There'' or ''The Damned'', is a novel by the French writer

Joris-Karl Huysmans Charles-Marie-Georges Huysmans (, ; 5 February 1848 – 12 May 1907) was a French novelist and art critic who published his works as Joris-Karl Huysmans (, variably abbreviated as J. K. or J.-K.). He is most famous for the novel (1884, pub ...

, first published in 1891. It is Huysmans's most famous work after ''

À rebours (; translated ''Against Nature'' or ''Against the Grain'') is an 1884 novel by the French writer Joris-Karl Huysmans. The narrative centers on a single character: Jean des Esseintes, an eccentric, reclusive, ailing aesthete. The last scion o ...

''. ''Là-Bas'' deals with the subject of

Satanism Satanism refers to a group of religious, ideological, or philosophical beliefs based on Satan—particularly his worship or veneration. Because of the ties to the historical Abrahamic religious figure, Satanism—as well as other religious ...

in contemporary France, and the novel stirred controversy on its first appearance. It is the first of Huysmans's books to feature the character Durtal, a thinly disguised portrait of the author himself, who would go on to be the protagonist of Huysmans's subsequent novels '' En route'', '' La cathédrale'' and ''

L'oblat ''The Oblate'' () is the last novel by the French writer Joris-Karl Huysmans, first published in 1903. ''The Oblate'' is the final book in Huysmans' cycle of four novels featuring the character Durtal, a thinly disguised portrait of the author ...

''.

History and plot

''Là-Bas'' was first published in serial form by the newspaper '' L'Écho de Paris'', with the first installment appearing on February 15, 1891. It came out in book form in April of the same year; the publisher was Tresse et Stock. Many of ''L'Écho de Paris more conservative readers were shocked by the subject matter and urged the editor to halt the serialisation, but he ignored them. Sale of the book was prohibited from French railway stations. The plot of ''Là-Bas'' concerns the novelist Durtal, who is disgusted by the emptiness and vulgarity of the modern world. He seeks relief by turning to the study of the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

(chapter one contains the first critical appreciation of

Matthias Grünewald Matthias Grünewald ( – 31 August 1528; also known as Mathis Gothart Nithart) was a German Renaissance painter of religious works who ignored Renaissance classicism to continue the style of late medieval Central European art into the 16th cent ...

's Tauberbischofsheim altarpiece) and begins to research the life of the notorious 15th-century child-murderer and torturer

Gilles de Rais Gilles de Rais, Pays de Retz, Baron de Rais (; also spelled "Retz"; 1405 – 26 October 1440) was a knight and lord from Duchy of Brittany, Brittany, Duchy of Anjou, Anjou and Poitou, a leader in the French army during the Hundred Years' W ...

. Through his contacts in Paris (notably Dr. Johannès, modeled after Joseph-Antoine Boullan), Durtal finds out that Satanism is not simply a thing of the past but alive in turn of the century France. He embarks on an investigation of the occult underworld with the help of his lover Madame Chantelouve. The novel culminates with a description of a Black Mass.

Reception

Dave Langford reviewed ''Là-bas'' for ''

White Dwarf A white dwarf is a Compact star, stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very density, dense: in an Earth sized volume, it packs a mass that is comparable to the Sun. No nuclear fusion takes place i ...

'' #88, and described it as "A lurid and influential book, containing that famous description of the Black Mass attended by Huysmans himself."

Adaptations

Norman Mailer Nachem Malech Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007), known by his pen name Norman Kingsley Mailer, was an American writer, journalist and filmmaker. In a career spanning more than six decades, Mailer had 11 best-selling books, at least ...

wrote a

screenplay A screenplay, or script, is a written work produced for a film, television show (also known as a '' teleplay''), or video game by screenwriters (cf. ''stage play''). Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of w ...

and a short story he adapted from it based on Huysmans's ''Là-bas'' entitled ''Trial of the Warlock''. This work was translated into Japanese by Hidekatsu Nojima and published as a book entitled ''Kuro-Misa'' ( Black Mass) by

Shueisha is a Japanese publishing company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. Shueisha is the largest publishing company in Japan. It was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The ...

in 1977.amazon.com.Japan's page
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Luis Buñuel Luis Buñuel Portolés (; 22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was a Spanish and Mexican filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians and directors to be one of the greatest and ...

and

Jean-Claude Carrière Jean-Claude Carrière (; 17 September 1931 – 8 February 2021) was a French novelist, screenwriter and actor. He received an Academy Award for best short film for co-writing '' Heureux Anniversaire'' (1963), and was later conferred an Honorar ...

wrote a screenplay based on the novel but it was never filmed.

References

Sources

Robert Baldick Robert André Edouard Baldick, FRSL (9 November 1927 – April 1972), was a British scholar of French literature, writer, translator and joint editor of the Penguin Classics series with Betty Radice. He was a Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford. ...

''The Life of J.-K. Huysmans'' (OUP, 1955; revised by Brendan King, Dedalus, 2006) *''Là-bas: A Journey into the Self'' translated by Brendan King (Dedalus, 2001) *''Là-Bas'' translated as ''The Damned'' by Terry Hale (Penguin Classics, 2001)

External links

*
''Là-bas''
at

Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks." It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital li ...