The Crowds of Lourdes

The Crowds of Lourdes first published in 1906 was J.-K. Huysmans last book and certainly his greatest work of non-fiction. Written in a style that is at once precise and brutal this Naturalist study of the pilgrim-crowds of Lourdes presented as a series of closely connected vignettes full of highly coloured description is sometimes somber sometimes scathing and often touching. In these pages the reader will find a whole-hearted tribute to Our Lady of Lourdes--but one that is a far from conventional and the penetrating analysis of the author who offers here some of his finest passages is full of a fervent emotion and tenderness that is not the least at odds with his fiery spirituality.