Charles-Marie-Georges Huysmans (February 5, 1848 – May 12, 1907) is a French novelist who publishes his works as Joris-Karl Huysmans.
He is most famous for the novel À rebours (published in English as Against the Grain or Against Nature).
He supports himself by a 30-year career in the French civil service.
Huysmans' work is considered remarkable for its idiosyncratic use of the French language, large vocabulary, descriptions, satirical wit and far-ranging erudition.
First considered part of Naturalism in literature, he becomes associated with the decadent movement with his publication of À rebours.
His work expresses his deep pessimism, which had led him to the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer.
In later years, his novels reflect his study of Catholicism, conversion, and becoming an oblate.
Four later novels feature Durtal, an autobiographical character who converts to Catholicism.
La cathédrale (1898), the third of these, is his most commercially successful work, set in Chartres and featuring its cathedral, and one in which he discusses the iconography of Christian architecture at length.
Due to its success, Huysmans retires from his civil service job and lives on his royalties.
