8 h 54 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 8 h 54 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the evil you study begins to draw you into its own world?
In a Paris ruled by money, flesh and boredom, Durtal wants something beyond ordinary life. The restless novelist researches Gilles de Rais, the medieval lord who fought beside Joan of Arc and later faced trial for murdering children. But the past offers no safe distance from darkness.
His friend Des Hermies speaks of Satanism hidden within the city, while letters from a mysterious woman turn curiosity into desire. In The Damned, Joris-Karl Huysmans follows a writer whose hunger for belief draws him toward the forbidden. Research, intimate talk and spiritual unease bring the boundaries between study and life under strain.
What you’ll discover
- A city of shadows Explore a Paris where ordinary pleasures leave a deeper hunger unanswered.
- The past pressing close Follow Durtal's research as medieval crimes begin to echo through his own world.
- Desire and dangerous curiosity Meet Hyacinthe Chantelouve, whose letters draw Durtal toward intimacy and a darker circle.
- Refuge in the bell tower Find another kind of longing with Carhaix, keeper of old liturgy and plainchant.
- Faith beneath the horror Enter searching conversations about belief, boredom and the limits of a life built on pleasure.
Who will love it
You will love this book if you enjoy gothic atmosphere, medieval history, sharp talk between friends, and a hero who argues with himself about art, desire and God.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Art must hold flesh and spirit
- History becomes Durtal’s hiding place
- Carhaix gives faith a human face
- Gilles turns fervor toward ruin
- Failed alchemy opens onto cruelty
- The past reaches into modern Paris
- Desire becomes a route toward danger
- Longing persists where belief falters
- Two lives expose one divided longing
Who’s who
- DurtalA Paris novelist near forty who longs for a spiritual realism and writes a life of Gilles de Rais, while doubting that he can believe.
- Des HermiesDurtal's friend, a cold, learned doctor who knows astrologers and occultists and argues sharply for and against belief.
- CarhaixThe bell-ringer of Saint-Sulpice, a devout, gentle man who loves his bells and prays for Durtal's conversion.
- Hyacinthe ChantelouveA married, ash-eyed woman who writes passionate letters under a false name and offers Durtal a view of a forbidden ceremony.
- GévingeyAn astrologer with heavy rings who tells of succubi, spells and a healer in Lyons.
- Canon DocreA defrocked priest of fearsome reputation, said to practice black magic and celebrate the Black Mass.
- Gilles de RaisA fifteenth-century marshal and companion of Joan of Arc whose thirst for the absolute turns to sorcery and crime.
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The Damned
by Joris-Karl Huysmans · 1891
A novelist tired of realism writes a life of Gilles de Rais and finds Satanism alive in Paris.
Medium level5–10 hours to read2 languages
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In short
Can a writer look at a rotting body on a cross and find the whole of life in it? Durtal, the hero of The Damned, does exactly that.
The Damned at a glance
- Reading time
- About 5 h 55 min4 h 40 min fast, 7 h slow
- Length
- 84,500 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1891by Joris-Karl Huysmans
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Durtal wants a novel that joins flesh and spirit
Durtal is dissatisfied with the novel of his day. His friend Des Hermies attacks the naturalists for their narrow, bodily view of life. They deny wonder, he says, and they bow to money and the crowd. The attack stays in Durtal's mind after the doctor leaves.
He asks for the documentary truth and muscular language of Zola, joined to a plunge into the soul. He calls it spiritual naturalism. His model is a painting, not a book. In Cassel he once saw Grünewald's Crucifixion, a Christ with dislocated arms, festering skin and a mouth that seems to weep and laugh at once. Durtal sees an art wholly earthly that still reaches heaven.
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- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1891
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 5 h 45 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Huysmans, Joris-Karl. The Damned. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-damned.
Huysmans, J.-K. (2026). The damned. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-damned (Original work published 1891)
Huysmans, Joris-Karl. The Damned. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-damned.
@book{huysmans2026damned,
author = {Huysmans, Joris-Karl},
title = {The Damned},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-damned},
note = {First published 1891}
}
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What is The Damned by Huysmans about?
It follows Durtal, a Paris writer working on a life of Gilles de Rais, a medieval marshal and child murderer. His research leads him to friends and a lover who draw him into the world of modern Satanism.
Who was Gilles de Rais?
Gilles de Rais was a fifteenth-century French nobleman and Marshal of France who fought beside Joan of Arc. He later became notorious for sorcery and for murdering many children, and he bears the nickname Bluebeard in the novel.
Is The Damned also called Down There or La-Bas?
Yes, the same novel appears under several titles. Huysmans wrote it in French as La-Bas, and English editions have called it Down There or The Damned. It is the first book to feature Durtal.
The author
Joris-Karl Huysmans
1848–1907 · French novelist and art critic
Joris-Karl Huysmans was a French novelist of the Decadent movement who began in Zola's naturalist circle before turning toward mysticism and, ultimately, Catholicism. Là-bas, his unsettling exploration of Satanism in nineteenth-century Paris, is interwoven with the story of the medieval knight Gilles de Rais.
More by Joris-Karl Huysmans
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