The themes and techniques in the pre-conversion novels of J.K. Huysmans

Abstract

Our study covers the novels from Marthe to La-bas.
In Part I, we examine four themes: Time, Death, Alienation, Love. In each case we establish the theme in the individual novel and trace its evolution across the work, showing how the theme finds its local expression and develops with a growing intensity from one novel to the next.
In "Time", we show how the experience of time erodes personal relationships and ideals. We examine the way in which the novels record this process through the characters' attempts to resist and how their attempts become more extreme as their reaction to time becomes more acute.
In "Death", we trace characters' growing consciousness of the fact of death and its consequence for the sense of meaning they derive from their life.
In "Alienation", we examine the various forms of estrangement, social; artistic, metaphysical, which find expression in the novels.
In "Love", our concern is to show how the novelist develops love-relationships in his work and how he frames them with an ambiguity which precludes the rigid misogyny which is usually ascribed to him.
In Part II, we are concerned with technique. Our aim
is to show how these elements of the novel reflect and structure the thematic concerns.
In "Character and Characterisation", we examine the protagonists in order to show how they embody the themes.
In "Form", we study the way in which the organisation of the novels is designed to convey the themes.
Our aim throughout, is to examine the internal structures of the novels so as to establish the nature of the vision of life which they develop.