La-bas by Joris-Karl Huysmans Fiction Classics Literary Action & Adventure

<p><strong>Published in 1891 <em>La-bas</em> is Huysmans' best-selling novel; its success was due in part to its sensational contents (descriptions of Satanism in late 1880 France.)</strong> It is in this novel that Huysmans' character Durtal is introduced for the first time. This character is thought to be a semi-autobiographical depiction of the author and is used in his next three books which chart Durtal's (and Huysmans') search for religious truths and his ultimate conversion to Roman Catholicism. The journey begins with the viewing of an extremely realistic painting: In Germany before a Crucifixion by Matthæus Grünewald he had found what he was seeking.</p>