Drifting: A vau-l'eau

J.-K. Huysmans

iyn 2018 · SCB Distributors

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The misfortunes of Jean Folantin, a downtrodden clerk working for the Ministry of the Interior in Paris, form the subject of J.-K. Huysmans’ blackly comic novella, Drifting (À vau-l’eau). At first glance, Folantin’s problems seem to be a world away from those of Jean Floressas des Esseintes, the aristocratic anti-hero of Huysmans’ Decadent classic Against Nature, written just two years later in 1884. But the two men share more than just a first name: like des Esseintes, Folantin is in the throes of an existential crisis: alienated from a Paris undergoing rapid modernisation, the pace of social change leaves him feeling out of place, impotent, a small cog in an impersonal commercial world. Through the distorting lens of Huysmans’ dark sense of humour, the dyspeptic Folantin is transformed into a modern-day Ulysses, and his tortuous quest through the streets of Haussmann’s Paris to find a capable housekeeper and a decent meal reaches its conclusion in one of the most daring anti-climaxes – literally speaking – in the whole of nineteenth century fiction. This new translation by Brendan King includes, for the first time in English, a contemporary profile of Huysmans’ life and work in which the author plays both interviewer and interviewee, and which was published pseudonymously for the journal, Les Hommes d’aujourd’hui (Men of Today) in 1885. “[The] Iliad of indigestion.” James Huneker, Unicorns

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J.-K. Huysmans (1847-1907) began writing as a naturalist in the style of Zola. His early works excel in their descriptive ability and he is one of the greatest authors at describing the life of Paris and its surroundings as witnessed by his Parisian Sketches. He changed from being an obscure author and art critic to one of the most famous authors of his day with the publication of A Rebours in 1884.His novel about Satanism, La-Bas (1891) is surely the cult novel of the nineteenth century. It is the first of four novels about Huysmans alter ego Durtal.

Brendan King is a freelance writer, reviewer and translator with a special interest in late nineteenth-century French fiction. His Ph.D. was on the life and work of J.-K.Huysmans. He has translated La-Bas, Parisian Sketches, Marthe, Against Nature, Stranded, The Cathedral and The Vatard Sisters by J.-K. Huysmans for Dedalus. He has also edited The Life of J.-K.Huysmans by Robert Baldick for Dedalus and is the author of a biography of Beryl Bainbridge.