Christa Giles

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dreams and altered states, and the black humour evinced in
Huysmans’ work helped to prepare the way for the
Surrealist phenomenon of the 1920s.
The focus on the ˝workings of the mind˝ and dreams
in Huysmans’ work had its logical end in solipsism. For not
only did Wilde’s idea of man as a being trapped in his own
subjectivity haunt Huysmans, he was also aware that the
end result of such solipsism was an inescapable solitude,
as, imprisoned in his own subjectivity, man was incapable
of really communicating with others. This is particularly
underlined in En rade. Upon awakening, Jacques comes to
the realization that he is totally alone, that in fact he and his
wife are virtual strangers:
Une lucidité parfaite l’éclairait soudain,
balayait le vague de ses inquiétudes et de ses
frayeurs, accaparait tout le domaine de son
esprit par la force de l’idée nette. Il
comprenait que, depuis trois ans qu’ils étaient
mariés, aucun des deux ne se connaissait. 422
In A rebours Des Esseintes is aware of his total alienation
from others, and deliberately chooses solitude:
He had to live on himself, to feed on his own
substance, like those animals that lie torpid in
a hole all winter. Solitude had acted on his
brain like a narcotic, first exciting and