Ecphrasis, Eroticism and Fin de siècle: Joris-Karl Huysmans and Gustave Moreau

Authors

  • Ottmar Ette Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften. Alemania

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.46553/LET.89.2024.p223-241

Keywords:

Ecphrasis, Eroticism, Fin de siècle

Abstract

In Joris-Karl Huysmans’ À rebours (1884), the protagonist Jean des Esseintes takes a path inwards: he formally locks himself up in his house and restricts art to an interior in his defence against the outside, the business world of a capitalist bourgeoisie oriented towards utility and use value. In these interior spaces, different worlds, different arts, different experiences, sensations and sensory perceptions overlap and come into contact with each other, jointly enhance their effects and establish a world of artistic synaesthesia. Through Gustave Moreau's “L’Apparition” from 1876, we will analyse how Huysmans presents us with a pyrotechnic spectacle of ekphrasis, i.e. the literary transposition of iconic texts into (written) language with subtlety.

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References

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Published

2024-09-13

How to Cite

Ette, O. (2024). Ecphrasis, Eroticism and Fin de siècle: Joris-Karl Huysmans and Gustave Moreau. Letras, (89), 223–241. https://doi.org/10.46553/LET.89.2024.p223-241