The Vatard Sisters

by Joris-Karl Huysmans

Céline fit à sa soeur cette inepte plaisanterie qui consiste à placer son doigt près du nez d'une personne endormie et à la réveiller brusquement.

Genres: Classics, France, Fiction

167 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1879

About the author

Charles Marie Georges Huysmans was a French novelist who published his works as Joris-Karl Huysmans. AKA: J.-K. Huysmans.

He is most famous for the novel À rebours (Against Nature). His style is remarkable for its idiosyncratic use of the French language, wide-ranging vocabulary, wealth of detailed and sensuous description, and biting, satirical wit.

The novels are also noteworthy for their encyclopedic documentation, ranging from the catalogue of decadent Latin authors in À rebours to the discussion of the symbiology of Christian architecture in La cathédrale. Huysmans' work expresses a disgust with modern life and a deep pessimism, which led the author first to the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer then to the teachings of the Catholic Church.

Reviews

[Eadweard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent naturalist novel, very much a la Zola.



" On the pavement, couples strolled along amid the yellow and green light refracted from the jars in pharmacists’ windows; the Plaisance omnibus came along, cutting through this teeming crowd, its headlamps splashing cherry-red light across the white rumps of the horses, and then the groups reformed, pierced here and there by columns of people streaming out of the Montparnasse Theatre, spreading out in a large fan that wrapped itself around a cart pushed by a shouting orange-seller.
Bars exhaled an odour of alcohol and wine; the click of billiard balls could be heard through an open window; men would run up to someone they knew and greet them with a playful punch; urchins of thirteen smoked cigarette butts and spat; the belly of a fat woman swayed beneath her greasy apron; whole families gathered excitedly around pastry shop windows.

Fingers foraged around in éclairs that were split and spilling their cream; others balanced soft almond tarts, barely held together by frail and flaccid crusts; mouths nibbled at foamy vanilla mousses; jaws closed over morsels of flan disembowelled on paper plates.

And the turnovers and cakes were replaced as fast as they were bought. Steaming tarts sweated profusely and their latticework of pastry sagged under the pressure of welling juices; brioches erupted in bubonic blisters; pastry horns filled with white goo burst; rum babas collapsed, seeping rum. Every blob of preserve, every drop of jam was leaking, catching each other up, stopping briefly when they ran into one another, then flowing more quickly when they’d mixed and merged.

Cheap wine, cassis, and marc formed rivulets on zinc counters. In the street, one could see nothing but men wiping their mouths and spitting purple spit on to the pavement. "
----



"A string of inanities was continuing to play out on stage. Men gave way to women and women gave way to men, the women entering from the left and the men from the right. Seated as they were, Cyprien and Céline could see the wretchedness of their costumes, the parade of dirty gloves, of frayed pockets, and the hob-nailed boots of water-carriers beneath dancing costumes. Every imperfection, all the defects of the face – bloodshot eyes, cheeks etched by smallpox, scars, clusters of cold sores at the corners of lips – every bit of flabby flesh, their brutish arms and big fat ankle-joints, was displayed before them, barely concealed by greasepaint and layers of make-up, by cotton stockings, by corsets armed with whalebone stays and stuffed with wadding."

[Aglaja · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was für eine Entdeckung! Zola mit einer guten Prise Humor :-)

[Fred Dameron · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an early work of Huysmans. Unlike the last two I read The Vatard Sisters is life in Paris for the working class in the raw. H pulls no punches in this work this is true to life in 1850 through 1900 Paris. Unlike the movies that portray The Follies-Bergere and other late 1800 music halls and dance halls Vatard Sisters show the real halls. They are filled with loud louts, prostitutes, common drunk folk, cheap wine and cheap food at ridiculous prices, soldiers, workers blowing off steam on Saturday after payday, men taking their girl to the show and bad acting by the ugly, over made up cast. The living conditions are mostly terrible. The food is bad as is the wine. The only relief is drunk or sex. Basically life for the working poor of Paris is shown, warts and all. But their are people who make the best of this time and they survive and thrive. These people are also shown, they are the Vatard family. Their work and lives show how one grows from a romantic to a practical life. Good read.

[Jim Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before Huysmans developed his own writing style and became a founding member of the so-called “Decadent Movement” in literature, he was a disciple of the realist Zola. This, his second novel, attempts to out Zola Zola with graphic descriptions of the poor of Paris in the 1870’s. All of humanity’s most base characteristics are looked at as though under a microscope. What saves this novel from being a portrait of sheer misery is that Huysmans is skillful enough as a writer to make you care about the two sisters of the title, despite their flaws, pettiness, limited education and small dreams. It also is an amazing record of late 19th century Paris and the customs of the working poor.

[aya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love borne of boredom. The belief that fulfillment will come from outside, from a lover/husband. Huysmans plays with some heavy material here, but doesn't go deep enough to make it hit home (say, for example, the way Flaubert did with Bovary and Mann with Magic Mountain). However, wonderful descriptions of Paris and the life of a low-wage worker. It's apparent that it's a second novel--there's much lacking, but there are hints of what is to come.

[Michel Van Goethem · Rating 4 out of 5]

Les Sœurs Vatard
by Joris-Karl Huysmans