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The Damned (La-Bas) by J.k. Huysmans

Huysmans did not hold back in this novel. Set in late nineteenth-century Paris, The Damned (La-Bas) follows Durtal, a bored and often grumpy writer who spends his days smoking, debating friends and drafting a biography of one of history’s gnarliest serial killers and satanists: Gilles de Rais. As he compiles information for his book, he meets a flirtatious fan, madame Chantelouve, who also shares his interest in the occult. Soon, Durtal finds himself conflicted with sexual/spiritual desires he doesn’t quite understand and witness to Frane’s own “satanic panic” in a rapidly industrializing world he wants no part of. Soaked in hilarious pessimism and sprinkled with hallucinatory recountings of murder, this is by far one of the weirdest novels I’ve had the pleasure of reading. If you love medieval history and misanthropic sarcasm, check this out!