Là-Bas

J.-K. Huysmans–already famous from the success of Against the Grain–wrote Là-Bas (alternatively translated as Down There) at a time when he was struggling with his journey back to Catholicism, and the character of Durtal is a fairly unsubtle autobiographical portrait. Each character represents an allegorical faction in the religious debates of the time, and their conversations and interactions with Durtal help him navigate his own spiritual truth. The novel’s descriptions of both Satanic ceremonies and de Rais’ sexual violence against children shocked fin de siècle France; if a modern reader with a taste for horror is inured to the first, the second retains its nauseating power.

This Standard Ebooks edition is Keene Wallace’s 1924 translation from Huysmans’ original French, plus a restored scene of a sexual nature that had been excised from some other editions.

This book is part of the Standard Ebooks project, which produces free public domain ebooks.