Poland
Aleksandra Kamińska
Cahiers ERTA, Numéro 38, 2024, pp. 113 - 131
https://doi.org/10.4467/23538953CE.24.013.19936In this paper we show that the conversion of Durtal appears in its epistemological dimension. For the hero, this dimension can be observed in his almost haunting attempt to understand his spiritual journey in the face of the unfathomable will of God. The analysis of his monologues explicitly demonstrates that, despite his conversion, Durtal sank into spiritual stagnation. Consequently, even spiritual accompaniment becomes for him only a palliative. For the Huysmansian hero, conversion has another dimension – this is a spiritual emancipation which is realized only in the contemplation of divine perfection to the detriment of all community rules imposed by the Church or by contemporary society.
Aleksandra Kamińska
Cahiers ERTA, Numéro 15 La (r)évolution, 2018, pp. 109 - 126
https://doi.org/10.4467/23538953CE.18.022.9314This article focuses on the evolutionary character of the literary work of Joris‐Karl Huysmans which expresses itself in the mutual penetration of naturalism, symbolism and decadence. The abandonment of the moralizing epithet and its ipseity seems to be the most important proof of the permeation of these tendencies. Therefore the writer’s heroes are able to find the integrity of their identity only in this heterogeneity.