Gilles de Rais: suivi de La Magie en Poitou et de deux documents inédits

Huysmans, allergic to optimism, turns from documenting bourgeois boredom to cataloging spiritual rot, treating sorcery and satanism like a guided tour of damnation. At the center is Gilles de Rais, a once-glorious marshal who burns through wealth, embraces alchemy, and slides into grotesque ritual in pursuit of power and gold, converting his life into a theater of corruption. The book pairs his excess with Félicien Rops, whose art elevates lust into dark divinity, portraying vice as both spectacle and sacrament. Together they sketch a world where transcendence is sought through degradation and the soul prefers poison to emptiness. Not essential, not uplifting, but grimly compelling: a polished hymn to decay that insists the abyss is real and, somehow, fascinating. ❤️ 🇮🇱