LIFE OF J K HUYSMANS

Robert Baldick's Life of J.-K. Huysmans has become not just a standard reference
work, to be consulted as regularly as the writing of the author whose life it c
hronicles, but a work of literature in its own right. First published fifty year
s ago, Baldick's classic biography presents a compelling narrative of Huysmans'
life and work in all its various phases - from the Naturalism of the 1870s to th
e Decadence of the 1880s, and from the occult vogue of the 1890s to the Catholic
Revival of the turn of the century - and it is written with such impeccable sch
olarship that it is still relied on today as regards matters of fact and detail.
For this new edition - the first time the biography has been reprinted in Engli
sh -Baldick's notes have been extensively revised and updated by Brendan King to
take account of new developments and publications in the field of Huysmansian s
tudies.