Là-Bas

Joris-Karl Huysmans · 1848–1907 · France

Originally Là-Bas (French)

Why it matters

A disillusioned writer researching a medieval child-murderer is drawn into Belle Époque Paris's occult underworld of Satanism and black masses. Huysmans's descent from decadent aestheticism toward the religious crisis that would define his later work.

At a glance

Dense essayistic digressions on art and Satanism slow an already thin plot.