Abstract EN:

The notion of end is from the outset defined as spatio-temporal. It expresses the limit (border and boundary, fniteness and finality), and conjures up desires to cross this limit. Our research aims to consider the novel A Rebours in the light of this notion, so as to emphasize the event narrated by Huysmans. What comes to an end with the departure into retirement is the century, that is to say, the world. The character who takes his leave has done with nature, and with the values of modernity ; in this sense A Rebours is indeed the turn-of-the century novel par excellence. Yet this is no more than the prelude to the event. Settling in the retreat at Fontenay imposes a redefinition of space, which will from now on be internalized as "here". Des Esseintes tries out a whole range of devices, the most important being the radical solitude of his new existence. He weaves other teleological threads that reveal the principle of pointlessness. Invisible from here onwards, he comes to terms with the prerogatives of a decadent logic, and turns to good account a desire for possibilities where the full sovereignty of the self is established. Cut off, beyond genealogy, beyond norms, he plays incognito. Basking in fickle leisure, the character, mask and true face, accedes single-handedly to the highest pinnacle of internal freedom, and becomes king. And yet, this supreme coronation of the subject os also a dethronement. The event emerges thus : Des Esseintes is stripped of his human identity. He is "disessentialized". Individuality and control are refused him from the moment that space-time (the "here and now") dissolves. In fact place implodes, being all and everywhere ; because it is lived as the "eternity of (n)ever", the present only, brings suffocating boredom. It is only at the end of the adventure, thanks to a disappointing apocalypse, that Des Esseintes once more finds the road outside (the "over there") and the horizon of History. Such is A Rebours's contribution to modernity, a contribution that Huysmans' other works deepen or rectify - in a style that is still naturalist, but racked with Mallaméan anxiety, Huysmans suggest that nihilism lies in wait for the all-powerful. He takes language to the limit of its powers and, offering comprehension of the world of "metaphysis", attempts to represent the secret of separation. Or rather, he provides us with the "outlines".