Là-Bas

9 hrs. 59 min.

Romance & Prose

Language Russian

Author Joris-Karl Huysmans

Narrator Kirill Petrov

Description

J.-K. Huysmans’s “Catholic Trilogy” begins with the novel “There Below, or the Abyss” (1891). The main character, Durtal, is a writer. He is endowed with the character of Huysmans himself. Durtal writes a novel about Gilles de Rais—Bluebeard, a powerful warrior of the Hundred Years’ War and a necromancer who tortures children. The writer tries to understand Gilles de Rais and penetrate the secret behind the terrible tortures. Therefore, he becomes involved in the black mass and in the study of modern satanism, while simultaneously comparing these rites with the rituals of the time of Joan of Arc’s companion. This disturbing novel is the peak of the decadent era.