''Marthe, histoire d'une fille'' (English: ''Marthe, the Story of a Girl'' - where "girl" has the implication "

prostitute Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-penet ...

" ) was the first

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

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 ''À rebou ...

, published in 1876. The book is autobiographical in inspiration and tells the story of the love affair between a young journalist called Léo and the heroine of the title, a would-be actress who works in a factory for artificial pearls as well as in a licensed brothel. The love affair breaks up and Marthe goes to live with the alcoholic actor-manager Ginginet. After his death, she is reduced to living on the streets. Huysmans was worried about the response to the book's controversial subject matter, since the author

Jean Richepin Jean Richepin (; 4 February 1849 – 12 December 1926) was a French poet, novelist and dramatist. Biography Son of an army doctor, Jean Richepin was born 4 February 1849 at Médéa, French Algeria. At school and at the École Normale Supér ...

had recently been imprisoned for a month and fined for writing a book on the theme of prostitution. In spite of this, ''Marthe'' is not pornographic. Huysmans intended its squalid

realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *Classical Realism *Literary realism, a move ...

as an attack on the overidealised view of

bohemian life Bohemianism is the practice of an unconventional lifestyle, often in the company of like-minded people and with few permanent ties. It involves musical, artistic, literary, or spiritual pursuits. In this context, bohemians may be wanderers, a ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

he found in such Romantic writers as

Henri Murger Louis-Henri Murger, also known as Henri Murger and Henry Murger (27 March 1822 – 28 January 1861), was a French novelist and poet. He is chiefly distinguished as the author of the 1851 book ''Scènes de la vie de bohème'' (Scenes of Bohemi ...

, whose famous ''Scènes de la vie bohème'' had appeared in 1848. Huysmans' style in ''Marthe'' owes a great deal to his literary hero at the time,

Edmond de Goncourt Edmond Louis Antoine Huot de Goncourt (; 26 May 182216 July 1896) was a French writer, literary critic, art critic, book publisher and the founder of the Académie Goncourt. Biography Goncourt was born in Nancy. His parents, Marc-Pierre Huot d ...

. To avoid prosecution, Huysmans travelled to

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

to have ''Marthe'' issued by the

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

publisher Jean Gay, who had considerable experience smuggling contraband books across the French border. The novel appeared for sale in Belgium on October 1, 1876. Huysmans decided against smuggling it into France but when he attempted to take 400 copies through French customs, all but a handful were impounded. Huysmans decided to send some of the few remaining copies to leading figures of the literary scene in Paris.

offered qualified praise but

Émile Zola Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, also , ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, and an important contributor to the development of ...

was most enthusiastic. Zola, the head of the new Naturalist school of French fiction, soon became a friend and mentor to the young Huysmans, whose association with the Naturalist group would last until his most famous novel, ''

A rebours A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes'' ...

'' (1884), took Huysmans' writing in a completely different direction.

Translation

*''Marthe'' translated by Brendan King (Dedalus, 2006)

Sources

* Huysmans ''Romans'' Volume One (Bouquins, Robert Laffont, 2005) * Robert Baldick: ''The Life of J.-K. Huysmans'' (originally published by Oxford University Press, 1955; revised by Brendan King, Dedalus Press, 2006)

External links

''Marthe,''
at

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

{{Joris-Karl Huysmans 1876 French novels Novels by Joris-Karl Huysmans Novels about actors Novels about French prostitution 1876 debut novels