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A review by jessrock
Down There (La-Bas) by Joris-Karl Huysmans
2.0
This is an awful lot of book for such a very thin storyline. Written and set in the late 1800s, Là-Bas focuses on the writer Durtal, an atheist who admires but finds himself unable to believe in Catholicism. Durtal is writing a book about Gilles de Rais, a friend of Joan of Arc who who later became a Satanist and sodomized and murdered children. Over many dinners and conversations with his friends Des Hermies and Carhaix, Durtal comes to believe that what his book is lacking is something to relate his 15th-century history to the present day - namely, Durtal feels he needs to learn about contemporary Satanism.
Much of the book is taken up with academic discussions about religion and philosophy. Even the presumably scandalizing sections about de Rais's excesses are told with a historian's narration, and they are brief and rare - so while there are some unsettling passages in the book, the overall feeling manages to be tedious. Even the famous description of the Black Mass toward the end of the book is interrupted before it can become too uncomfortable - Durtal flees partway through.
Overall, I was surprised at how the book managed to have a mostly Catholic feel to it in spite of being about an atheist researching a Satanist. Even the priest who conducts the Black Mass clearly believes deeply in Catholicism and has only turned to Satanism out of anger that the world has been waiting too long for the Second Coming. It was no surprise, then, to learn that Huysmans himself struggled with his disbelief and returned to Catholicism just a few years after writing Là-Bas.
This is very much a novel of ideas, and many of the ideas are interesting, but it's very long for the slim amount of ground it actually covers. I appreciate what Huysmans was doing in this novel, but it felt like a slog to get through.
Much of the book is taken up with academic discussions about religion and philosophy. Even the presumably scandalizing sections about de Rais's excesses are told with a historian's narration, and they are brief and rare - so while there are some unsettling passages in the book, the overall feeling manages to be tedious. Even the famous description of the Black Mass toward the end of the book is interrupted before it can become too uncomfortable - Durtal flees partway through.
Overall, I was surprised at how the book managed to have a mostly Catholic feel to it in spite of being about an atheist researching a Satanist. Even the priest who conducts the Black Mass clearly believes deeply in Catholicism and has only turned to Satanism out of anger that the world has been waiting too long for the Second Coming. It was no surprise, then, to learn that Huysmans himself struggled with his disbelief and returned to Catholicism just a few years after writing Là-Bas.
This is very much a novel of ideas, and many of the ideas are interesting, but it's very long for the slim amount of ground it actually covers. I appreciate what Huysmans was doing in this novel, but it felt like a slog to get through.