Drifting: A vau-l'eau

by J.-K. Huysmans

Overview

The misfortunes of Jean Folantin, a downtrodden clerk working for the Ministry of the Interior in Paris, form the subject of J.-K. Huysmans' blackly comic novella, Drifting (À vau-l'eau). At first glance, Folantin's problems seem to be a world away from those of Jean Floressas des Esseintes, the aristocratic anti-hero of Huysmans' Decadent classic Against Nature, written just two years later in 1884. But the two men share more than just a first name: like des Esseintes, Folantin is in the throes of an existential crisis: alienated from a Paris undergoing rapid modernisation, the pace of social change leaves him feeling out of place, impotent, a small cog in an impersonal commercial world. Through the distorting lens of Huysmans' dark sense of humour, the dyspeptic Folantin is transformed into a modern-day Ulysses, and his tortuous quest through the streets of Haussmann's Paris to find a capable housekeeper and a decent meal reaches its conclusion in one of the most daring anti-climaxes – literally speaking – in the whole of nineteenth century fiction.
This new translation by Brendan King includes, for the first time in English, a contemporary profile of Huysmans' life and work in which the author plays both interviewer and interviewee, and which was published pseudonymously for the journal, Les Hommes d'aujourd'hui (Men of Today) in 1885.
"[The] Iliad of indigestion." James Huneker, Unicorns

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781910213643
Publisher:	Dedalus Ebooks
Publication date:	06/18/2018
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

J.-K. Huysmans (1847-1907) began writing as a naturalist in the style of Zola. His first novel Marthe(1876) was published by Dedalus in 2006 in a new translation by Brendan King. His early works excel in their descriptive ability and he is one of the greatest authors at describing the life of Paris and its surroundings as witnessed by his Parisian Sketches (Dedalus translation by Brendan King in 2004, new edition in 2014). He changed from being an obscure author and art critic to one of the most famous authors of his day with the publication of A Rebours in 1884. A Rebours is a ground breaking novel which captures the decadent spirit of the day and marks his final break with Zola and naturalism. Dedalus's translation by Brendan King was published in May 2008. His novel about Satanism, La-Bas (1891) is surely the cult novel of the nineteenth century. (Brendan King's translation was selected by Beryl Bainbridge as one of the best books published in 2001 in The Independent). La-Bas is the first of four novels about Huysmans alter ego Durtal.Dedalus has published English translations of En Route (1895), The Cathedral (1898) and The Oblate of St Benedict (1903). Robert Baldick's brilliant book The Life of J.-K. Huysmans was published by Dedalus in the autumn of 2005, updated and edited by Brendan King.In 2010 Dedalus published Brendan King's new translation of Stranded (En Rade), which was followed in 2012 by the first English translation of The Vatard Sisters and Drifting in 2017
Brendan King is a freelance writer, reviewer and translator with a special interest in late nineteenth-century French fiction. His Ph.D. was on the life and work of J.-K.Huysmans.He has translated La-Bas, Parisian Sketches, Marthe, Against Nature, Stranded, The Cathedral,The Vatard Sisters and Drifting by J.-K. Huysmans for Dedalus.He has also edited The Life of J.-K.Huysmans by Robert Baldick for Dedalus.He lives in Paris.

Editorial Reviews

"This is a Ulysses of the eatery, whose Odyssey, limited to voyages from one dish in which rancid butter surrounds uneatable meat to another, is heartbreaking, touching and despairing." — Guy de Maupassant in Le Gaulois

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