Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1896-11-29
AUTHOR OF EN- ROUTE.
Joris Karl Huysmans and His Literary
Associations.

| Associations.
| Commercial Advertiser.
Joris Karl Huysmans, the author of
| that remarkable novel, EN- Route is
| one more prominent example of a writer
who, like Charles Lamb or the author Of
| Essays Written in the Interval of Bus
mess" has passed the greater part OF
| his life at an official desk. He has
| sucked his sustenance," as Ella says in
| one of his most delightful essays,
through a quill" and, out of official
hours, has felt his enfranchised pen to
have received justly earned promotion.
AS shown by his name, Joris Karl
Huysmans is of Dutch origin though by
education and sy,npathies he is French.
He was born in Paris on Feb. 5, 1S4S. His
father was of Dutch nationality; his
mother was French. 1t is worthy of note
that both III. Huysmans' father and
grandfather were painters, men in whom
the artistic instinct was particularly
strong, and who transmitted to their son
that Flemish love of detail which one
finds in the work of Teniers and Jor-
daens, that faculty of using words as
though they were colors, says writer i'll
Sketch
N. Huysmans made his debut as
writer under the Inspiration OF NJ. lola,
in the days when Guy de Maupassant.
Henry Ceard and Paul Alexis used to
meet at-the country house Of their master
at Medan a literary gathering which re-
suited in the publication of Les Soirees
de Medan,' volume of short stories deal
ing with the 1870 war, and which served
as sort of declaration of the collabora-
tors literary tendencies. M. Zola's con-
tribution was, to cite the opinion OF Mr..
George Saintsbury, that unfinished work
of art" IL Attaque du Moulin" Maupas-
SAINT wrote his masterpiece "Boule de
Suit" and M. Huysmans story was sac
au Dos.
There was lapse of some years before
M Huysrnans published another story.
Then novel after nc 4 followed in rapid
succession, each new work showing the
writer's pessimistic outlook upon lie,
thought gradually became less a acc,
ated as years passed on "Marthe' was
published in 1876. Lies Soeurs Vatara IN II,
1879, EN- Menage" in 1881, "A Rebours
in 1884 En- Rade" in 1887, La Basa II, IN
1891, "A Vau-HEau" in 1894, and hnelly
"Iln Route" in 1885. There also appeared
from time to time three volumes OF art
criticism and three volumes OF Paris
sketches and prose poems. "A Nau-
pEau," which attracted considerable at.
tention at the time of issue on account OF
it's peculiar central idea, is the story OF
a government official who searches in
vain for an eatable beefsteak. the au-
thor's pessimism still occupying prom
inent position. In "La-Bas' we ma M.
Huymans giving his readers a minute
been described by M. Jules Blois IN Les
Petites Religions de Paris" and from
mysticism we find him gravitating TO-
ward Catholicism.
M. Huysmans was, in fact, converted
and his conversion, III many respects,
may be compared to that of ST. Angus
tine Chateaubriand and Lacordaire. IL
| is, indeed, because M. Huysmans IN MS
| latest novel, EN- Route" tells the story
| of his own life that the novel has such @
al n n work OF art, M.
Rene Doumic, one Of his adverse critics,
even confesses this much. En- Route
| is. above all, document" he says. 1t
informs US of the state OF certain SOUS
of the present day. what makes
M EIuysnans' books so valuable to us Is
| that. in studying himself, he has discoV-
cred some of the traits-and the most dls-
quieting ones-of contemporary sensi-
bility." ~
Durtel. the central character of "En
Route"-he is first of all to be met with in
"La-Bas" in the guise or a mystic--ls a
| literary man who, at the age or fofty, is
troubled, by reason of his excesses, with a
horror of the present. its literature, It's
art and the whole world of modern
| thought In search of a remedy he seizes
| hold of Chateaubriand's idea that the
| true proof of Catholicism is the arr IL
| has founded. He becomes converted, put:
| falling to find that peace of mind or
| which he Is in need, he retires to the
| Monastery of La Trappe. His etat dame,
upon returning to Paris. is shown by the
| concluding words of the novel: PARIS
and Notre Dame de rAtre have re]ected
me- as Wreckage, and here | am condemn
| ed to live unma tched, because l am al
ready too much a literary man to make
| a monk and am already too much a
monk to remain among literary men,
M Haysmans makes no secret or the
| fact that he was his own prototype when
| drawing the character of the unfortunate
| Durtal; 1t is now three years since he
| pulled the bell chain at the door OF the
| Trappist Monastery, heard the CATER OF
| the sabots of the monk who answered his
] summons, and was shown into the pres
| ence of Pere Etienne.
But. however complete NJ Huysman's
| conversion may be. 1t is very apparent
| from the concluding words of the mover
| that that of Durtal is yet incomplete,
| and it is only in the sequel that we shall
| see him reach the end of his journey.
| Upon this compan Mon novel M. Huymans
| is at the present time busily engaged. All
| the characters In EN- Route" including
that mastery one of the Able Cevresin,
| are to again appear. with an additional
| character of a mystic old woman, whose
| strange personality is taken from the Ire.
The scene of the store, title Tor Wn1ch
| has not vet been, decided upon, will be
| laid at Charities, and there will be found
| in it careful study not only OF the ca
| thedral of this town, but of the cathedrals
| of France, just as one mas IN I'm
| Route" study of the churches of Paris.
| On this subject of cathedrals, their SYM
| holism of colors and the art of the Mid
| die Ages, he has many original theories
| to put forward If not actual discoveries to
unfold. -.
| 1t will. however be a year and half,
1 probably two years, before the publica-
| ton of the sequel of EN- Route" The
novelist is slow and painstaking work
/ er, His method of work is very similar
| To that of M. Zola He reads everything
| which bears on the main idea and char
! acters of his novel, at the same time tax
| ing careful and voluninous notes. His
| researches are made principally in the
! evening, the morning until noon, when
| nj. Huysmans commences his duties at
| the ministry. being devoted to the ciassi-
| fication of his notes. And what labor
| those researches entail M. Huysmans
| has discovered, as did his old friend,
| Gustave Flaubert! When writing En-
| Route" he had to read whole libraries
| Then, when he has thoroughly mastered
| his subject and the characters of his
| novel have begun to take the form of
| living men and women. he works, prin-
/ ciually in the arly morning, upon the