Yves Hersant

Joris-Karl Huysmans' shocking novel of an innocent's descent into a world of depraved, blasphemous rituals Durtal, a shy, censorious man, is writing a biography of Gilles de Rais, the monstrous fifteenth-century child-murderer thought to be the original for 'Bluebeard'. Bored and disgusted by the vulgarity of everyday …