1
of
1
J.-K. Huysmans
Series: Critical Lives
Brief Description
J.-K. Huysmans (1848-1907) now stands firmly recognised as a significant and influential writer, often hailed as a pioneer of modernism. While his novel A rebours (Against Nature) remains infamous for its reclusive protagonist retreating into a realm of artifice and dreams, Huysmans' literary contributions are far-reaching....
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
TEMPORARILY OUT OF STOCK
Please add to wishlist to be notified when back in stock
Sorry, we're currently out of stock of J.-K. Huysmans. Please add to your Wishlist and we'll send you an email as soon as it's back in stock.
Latest News
The First Ever NZ Children's Book Week!
We are so excited to celebrate kids reading books with the first NZ Children's Book...
What Lizzy's Family Loved on a Long Weekend Away
We recently went on a family long weekend away to Ohakune, a new spot for...
Paw Patrol : The Dino Movie Toys Have Arrived!
The new Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie toys have arrived & are ready to ship!
New Releases to add to your TBR (11th August)
There's a new release for everyone this week - here's your TBR roundup! Lizzy shares...
Book Briefing - 11th August
New Zealand books are recognized internationally, AI continues to cause drama, exciting new books are...
See moreA concise, cogent biography of influential modernist writer J.-K. Huysmans.
Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and
still learning, it may not be perfect - your
feedback is welcome!
Description
J.-K. Huysmans (1848-1907) now stands firmly recognised as a significant and influential writer, often hailed as a pioneer of modernism.
While his novel A rebours (Against Nature) remains infamous for its reclusive protagonist retreating into a realm of artifice and dreams, Huysmans' literary contributions are far-reaching. Ruth Antosh explores Huysmans' life and work, illustrating how it reflects France's era of profound social and artistic change.
In this context, Huysmans' lesser-known writings, such as his correspondence, early fiction, art criticism, and the esteemed mid-career novel En rade (Stranded)βcherished by the Surrealistsβdemand greater critical attention.
This biography compellingly argues that Huysmans' life was an unwavering quest for spiritual and aesthetic fulfilment, evident through his meaningful friendships and prolific writings.
Series: Critical Lives
View all-
Antoni GaudΓ
The celebrated art nouveau architect Antoni GaudΓ was a contradictory figure: a deeply religious, politically right-wing man who nevertheless created revolutionary, lyrical buildings. This book explores GaudΓ's life, work, and influences, from Catalan nationalism to the Industrial Revolution. Michael Eaude expertly guides readers through GaudΓ's dozen great works, including the Sagrada Familia, which attracts millions of tourists to Barcelona each...Paperback$5600Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
Dylan Thomas
Dylan Thomas, the author of some of the century's greatest poetry, stories, and film scriptsβas well as one of the greatest radio features ever broadcast, Under Milk Woodβis often characterised as self-indulgent. This concise and up-to-date biography challenges this depiction with a fresh portrait of the artist as a consummate professional. John Goodby and Chris Wigginton locate the source of...Paperback$5800Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
Hannah Arendt
Hannah Arendt is one of the most renowned political thinkers of the twentieth century and her work has never been more relevant than it is today. Born in Germany in 1906, Arendt published her first book at the age of 23, before turning away from the world of academic philosophy to reckon with the rise of the Third Reich. After...Paperback$6200Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
Fernando Pessoa
As a young man, Fernando Pessoa wrote 'be plural like the universe'. Staying true to this, he went on to invent over 100 fictional alter-egos, which he called heteronyms. This philosophical biography navigates Pessoa's early days in Lisbon and South Africa, reveals a philosopher-poet and pioneer of Portuguese modernism, and delves into the birth of Pessoa's heteronymic universe. Bartholomew Ryan...Paperback$5700Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
Ford Madox Ford
Ford Madox Ford (1873β1939) lived among several of the most important artists and writers of his time. Raised by Pre-Raphaelites and friends with Henry James, H. G. Wells, and Joseph Conrad, Ford was a leading figure of the avant-garde in pre-WWI London, responsible for publishing Ezra Pound, Wyndham Lewis, and D. H. Lawrence. After the war, he moved to Paris,...Paperback$6300Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
Christopher Isherwood
Christopher Isherwood began writing modernist novels before evolving into a pioneer of autofiction, which mingles fiction and autobiography. His novel Goodbye to Berlin inspired the hit musical Cabaret. Everything changed when Isherwood emigrated to America in 1939. He had become a pacifist and was studying to be a Hindu monk. Although Isherwood resumed his career as a writer, the novels...Paperback$5800Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
D. H. Lawrence
This book offers a concise yet comprehensive look at D. H. Lawrence's turbulent life and writing career. Tracing his journey from a mining village outside Nottingham to his death at 44 years old in the South of France, it provides fresh perspectives on his major works. David Ellis covers all essential aspects of Lawrence's life and work and presents a...Paperback$5800Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
Sergei Prokofiev
This wide-ranging and incisive biography unfolds the life and work of the much-loved twentieth-century composer Sergei Prokofiev. In it, Christina Guillaumier reveals Prokofiev's surprisingly optimistic spirit amidst a tumultuous backdrop of geopolitical chaos and ever-shifting musical landscapes. Guillaumier breathes life into the people and worlds that shaped Prokofiev's complicated life, capturing the unwavering passion of a musical genius whose love...Paperback$5800Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
E.T.A. Hoffmann
E.T.A. Hoffmann (1776-1822) is celebrated for his supernatural fiction such as The Sandman as well as his musical achievements, notably the opera Undine. This book offers a concise yet comprehensive introduction to Hoffmann as a Romantic writer, composer, and public figure. It follows his life as a lawyer, theatre director, and senior judge in Berlin, where he clashed with authorities...Paperback$5600Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
Jean Baudrillard
Jean Baudrillard, once hailed as a 'historian of the future', remains a vital figure for understanding modern life. Famous for ideas like 'simulation' and the 'hyperreal', linked to postmodernism and The Matrix, Baudrillard was both celebrated and controversial, known for bold pronouncements about events like the Gulf War and 9/11. Yet the man himself was enigmatic, leading a public life...Paperback$5600Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
Maurice Ravel
Maurice Ravel is one of the twentieth century's most intriguing and contradictory composers. This timely new biography, published for the 150th anniversary of his birth, describes Ravel's journey from Parisian apprentice to global musical icon. Drawing on fresh research, Emily Kilpatrick reveals Ravel as both a daring provocateur and a reflective elder, his lifelong quest for originality driven by his...Paperback$5700Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
Robert Louis Stevenson
This concise biography offers a fresh portrait of Robert Louis Stevenson: frail Edinburgh child turned globe-trotting author of Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It charts his remarkable literary range from fiction and poetry to essays and letters crafted across three continents, often in poor health. Stevenson's adventurous life and memorable characters captured both...Paperback$5700Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781789148725
Publisher: Reaktion Books
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 01 June 2024
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Reaktion Books
Illustration: 27 illustrations
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Width: 130.0mm
Height: 200.0mm
Weight: 250g
Pages: 160
About the Author
Ruth Antosh is Professor Emerita of French at the State University of New York at Fredonia. She is the author of Reality and Illusion in the Novels of J.-K. Huysmans (1986).
More from Biography & Memoir
View all-
This Angry Pen of Mine
This Angry Pen of Mine by Layne Staley invites you to dive into the untold creative world of Layne Staley, the legendary voice behind Alice in Chains. This extraordinary collection showcases his handwritten lyrics, deeply personal poetry, stunning original artwork, rare photos, fan tributes, and so much more. Step into the world of Layne Staley like never before. For the...Hardback$7299Elsewhere:$8999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseFamesick
Chronicling the tumultuous decade between the premiere of Girls to her 2021 shotgunΒ wedding (minus the baby, because she has no uterus), Lena Dunham takes us through herΒ journey with her trademark mix of humor, unsparing honesty, and keen eye for detail. We peek behind the scenes - of her work, her family, her relationships, and her battle to reclaim her body...Paperback$3299Elsewhere:$3500Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Dogs, Boys and Other Things I've Cried About
From the social media superstar behind @SimonSits, Isabel Klee--known for her heartwarming tales of dog rescue--comes an utterly winning memoir about a twentysomething woman's search for true love in New York City and the dogs who helped her find it. A Jersey girl by birth, Isabel Klee had always wanted to live in New York City. At age 20, she...Paperback$3299Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Stakes
Read our interview with author Noelle McCarthy! A darkly funny, sparkling follow-up to the authorβs bestselling memoirΒ Grand. You have to invite him in. You have to want the vampireβs badness in the house with you. Growing up in Catholic Ireland, Noelle McCarthy is captivated by Bram StokerβsΒ Dracula. The vampire is a risk-free fantasy, a suave alternative to the fraught realities...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$4000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseBuilt for This
Raised among strong women, butcher's benches, and hard ideas about what men are meant to be, Brad Poulter grows up knowing he's different long before he has the words for it. But in late '90s small-town New Zealand, 'different' isn't discussed, it's managed. Joining the Royal New Zealand Navy offers escape, certainty, and belonging. The rules are clear, the uniform...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Even the Good Girls Will Cry
Thanks to a thrown beer bottle and a fan letter to a P.O. box, Melissa Auf der Maur's first band scored an opening slot for the Smashing Pumpkins in her bohemian home town, Montreal. Sensing Melissa's talent, Billy Corgan recommended her to Courtney Love. Whisked from her local scene, Melissa joined Hole just after the deaths of Kurt Cobain and...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseAn Ocean and a Day
An utterly riveting, moving and poignant memoir of grief and loss that will speak to anyone who's ever lost someone they love. An Ocean and a Day is Hannah Richell's personal account of losing her husband, Matt, in a surfing accident on Tamarama beach in 2014. It is the story of the grief journey she travelled over the first two...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseA Place to Stand
A Place to Stand by Clare Ward is a profound memoir that delves into the life of a country doctor living and working in the Hokianga Harbour area in the far north of Aotearoa New Zealand. This region is sparsely populated and poses numerous health challenges. This thoughtful account details Clareβs thirty-year career, highlighting the people she works with and...Hardback$3199Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseRule of Lies
Written with all the pace and energy of a John Grisham novel β¦ An incredible true story and a great read! BILL BROWDER, author of Red Notice and Freezing Order An American lawyerβs brilliant, propulsive story of witnessing and playing a part in the transformation of Russia under Yeltsin and Putin. A true tale of fascinating personalities, criminal intrigue, harrowing...Paperback$2999Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Rory
TheΒ New York TimesΒ bestseller The #1Β Irish TimesΒ bestseller The definitive biography of Rory McIlroy, the most important, popular and confounding player of the post-Tiger era. Rory McIlroy contains multitudes. The child of a working-class family from a small town in a war-torn homeland now commutes to work in his own private jet and counts billionaires as confidants. He can overwhelm a golf...Paperback$3699Elsewhere:$4199Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseTe Kaikaukau | The Swimmer
Novelist, memoirist and playwright Witi Ihimaera β author of Pounamu, Pounamu and The Whale Rider β decided, at the age of eighty, to dive back into the water and spend a year full-time at Te WΔnanga Takiura, immersing himself in his own language, in te reo MΔori. This book tells the story of this kaikaukau, this swimmer, and his year...Paperback$3500Elsewhere:$4500Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseThis Is Me: A Reckoning
This is a searingly honest and moving memoir from double Golden Globe-nominatedactress Hayden Panettiere. Hayden Panettiere has been in front of the camera since before she could talk. She roseto stardom typecasted as Hollywood's blonde girl next door. As a young celebrity,naysayers were certain she would crash and burn. Not one to disappoint, she did.Hayden Panettiere's irreverent memoir satisfies our...Paperback$3200Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today
Why buy from us?
Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!
Service & Delivery
Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.
Auckland Bookstore
We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.
Our Gifting Service
Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.
