Texts in English Translation
Although there have been some very impressive translations of Huysmans’ work, a significant proportion still remains untranslated or poorly translated into English.
Le Drageoir aux épices.
— ‘Camaïeu in Red’ (tr. Stuart Merrill), Pastels in Prose, New York: Harper & Brothers, 1890.
— A Dish of Spices (tr. Samuel Putnam), Downstream and Other Works, Chicago: P Covici, 1927.
— A Dish of Spices (tr. Paul Oldfield), Caryatid Classics, 2005.
Marthe, histoire d’une fille.
— Marthe (tr. Samuel Putnam), Downstream and Other Works, Chicago: P Covici, 1927.
— Marthe (tr. Robert Baldick), London: Fortune Press, [1957].
— Marthe: the story of a whore (tr. Brendan King), Sawtry: Dedalus Books, 2006.
‘Sac au dos.’
— ‘Knapsacks’ (tr. Henry Roche), Great French Short Stories, London: Ernest Benn Ltd, 1928.
— ‘Knapsack at the ready’ (tr. David Coward), The Oxford Book of French Short Stories, Oxford: University Press, 2002.
Les Soeurs Vatard.
— The Vatard Sisters (tr. James C Babcock), University Press of Kentucky, 1983.
— The Vatard Sisters (tr. Brendan King), Sawtry: Dedalus Books, 2012.
Croquis parisiens.
— Parisian Sketches (tr. Richard Griffiths), London: Fortune Press, [1962].
— Parisian Sketches (tr. Brendan King), Sawtry: Dedalus Books, 2004.
En ménage.
— Living Together (tr. J W G Sandiford-Pellé), London: Fortune Press, 1969.
Pierrot sceptique.
— Pierrot the Sceptic (tr. Fred Dalmasso and Roger Baines), in Transactions of the Flesh: A Homage to Joris-Karl Huysmans, edited by D P Watt and Peter Holman, Zagava/Ex Occidente Press: Bucharest/Dusseldorf, 2013.
A vau-l’eau.
— Downstream and Other Works (tr. Samuel Putnam), Chicago: P Covici, 1927.
— Downstream (tr. Robert Baldick), London: Fortune Press, [1952].
— With the Flow (tr. Andrew Brown), London: Hesperus Press, 2003.
— Drifting (tr. Brendan King), Sawtry: Dedalus Books, 2017.
L’Art moderne.
— ‘Of Dilettantism’ ‘Gustave Moreau,’ ‘Degas’ (tr. Samuel Putnam), Downstream and Other Works, P Covici, 1927.
— ‘Moreau’ ‘Cezanne’ (tr. Rosemary Lloyd), Revolutions in Writing: readings in nineteenth century French prose, Indiana University Press, 1996.
— Modern Art (tr. Brendan King), Sawtry: Dedalus Books, 2019.
À rebours.
— Against the Grain (tr. John Howard [Jacob Howard Lewis]), New York: Lieber & Lewis, 1922. With a frontispiece by Odilon Redon. This first translation was abridged, cutting out the whole of chapter six, and a part of chapter nine.
— Against the Grain (tr. John Howard [Jacob Howard Lewis]), New York: Albert and Charles Boni, 1924.
— Against the Grain (tr. Anonymous) Paris: Groves & Michaux, 1926. Numbered limited edition.
— Against the Grain (tr. Anonymous) New York: The Modern Library, 1930. With an introduction by Havelock Ellis .
— Against the Grain (tr. John Howard [Jacob Howard Lewis]) New York: Bonibooks, 1930. Published in paperback with a distinctive illustrated cover by Vera Bock.
— Against the Grain (tr. John Howard [Jacob Howard Lewis]) New York: Bonibooks, [1931]. Essentially the same edition but published in hardback using the same distinctive illustration by Vera Bock for the dustjacket as was used for the cover of the paperback.
— Against the Grain (tr. Anonymous) New York: Three Sirens Press, 1931. Limited edition of 1500 numbered copies with an introduction by Havelock Ellis and illustrations by Arthur Zaidenburg.
— Against the Grain (tr. Anonymous) New York: Illustrated Editions Company, 1931. With an introduction by Havelock Ellis and illustrations by Arthur Zaidenburg.
— Against the Grain (tr. Anonymous) New York: Hartsdale House, [1946]. With an introduction by Havelock Ellis illustrations by Arthur Zaidenberg.
— Against the Grain (tr. Anonymous) London: Fortune Press, [1931]. Limited edition of 250 copies. Essentially the remaining sheets of the Groves & Michaux edition published under the Fortune Press imprint.
— Against Nature (tr. Anonymous) London: Fortune Press [c.1936] 219 pages, edition of 1000 copies.
— Against the Grain (tr. John Howard [Jacob Howard Lewis]) Canada: Fireside Publications Limited, [1941]. A very rare illustrated paperback produced sometime in the 1940s in Canada.
— Against Nature (tr. Anonymous) London: Fortune Press [c.1946]. With an introduction by P G Lloyd. 180 pages.
— Against Nature (tr. Robert Baldick), Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1959.
— Against Nature (tr. Margaret Maulden), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.
— Against Nature (tr. Brendan King), Sawtry: Dedalus Books, 2008.
— Against Nature (tr. Theo Cuffe), London: Quercus Publishing, 2019.
‘En Hollande’
‘A Trip to Holland’ (tr. Brendan King), The Sienese Shredder, No. 1, New York: 2006.
Un Dilemme.
— A Dilemma (tr. Bob Jackson), Arbrose Press, 2009. Also includes En Rade or Out of the Swing of the Sea.
— A Dilemma (tr. Justin Vicari), Wakefield Press, 2015. With an introduction.
En rade.
— Becalmed (tr. Terry Hale), London: Atlas Press, 1992.
— En Rade or Out of the Swing of the Sea (tr. Bob Jackson), Arbrose Press, 2009. Also includes A Dilemma.
— Stranded (tr. Brendan King), Sawtry: Dedalus Books, 2010.
Certains.
— ‘Rops’ (tr. Samuel Putnam), Downstream and Other Works, Chicago: P Covici, 1927.
— ‘Rops’ (tr. Rosemary Lloyd), Revolutions in Writing: readings in nineteenth century French prose, Indiana University Press, 1996.
— ‘Certain Artists’ (tr. Brendan King), Dedalus Books, 2021.
La Bièvre. ‘Les Vieux Quartiers de Paris.’
— The Bievre River (tr. Darius Halpern and Ellen Moerman), Langtry Press, 1986. With illustrations by Jill Heberden.
— La Bièvre (tr. Rob Swigart and Danielle Trudeau), Éditions Illouz/Rob Swigart, 2005. A bilingual edition limited to 50 copies on BKF paper with 7 etchings by Claire Illouz.
Là-bas.
— Down There (tr. Keene Wallis), New York: A & C Boni, 1924. With an illustrated cover by W Gropper.
— Down There (Là-Bas) (tr. Keene Wallis), Paris: Privately Printed for Subscriber, 1928.
— Down There (Là-Bas) (tr. Alfred Allinson), Paris: Groves & Michaux, 1930. With an introduction by Lucien Descaves. This is perhaps the holy grail for collectors of Huysmans in English language editions. So few copies exist it is possible that it was never actually put on sale before the remaining sheets were sold to the Fortune Press, and that the only extant copies are the publisher’s own reference copies.
— Down There (Là-Bas) (tr. Alfred Allinson), London: Fortune Press, [1930]. With an introduction by Lucien Descaves. Although the justification page states that this is an edition of 2,050 copies, it is clear that nothing like this amount of copies was actually produced. This edition is second only in rarity to that of the original Groves & Michaux edition on which it is based.
— Là-Bas (Down There) (tr. Keene Wallis), Chicago: Black Archer Press, 1935. A limited edition of 850 copies with a frontispiece by John Groth and a cover design by William Targ.
— Là-Bas (tr. Alfred Allinson), London: Fortune Press, [c.1946]. An edited and bowdlerised version with a preface and notes by Alan Hull Walton and Montague Summers.
— Là-Bas (tr. Alfred Allinson), London: Fortune Press, [c.1952]. A reprint of the previous edition but in a slightly smaller format.
— Down There (Là-Bas) (tr. Keene Wallis), New York: University Books, 1958. With an introduction by Robert Baldick.
— Là-Bas (tr. Alfred Allinson), Paris: Le Ballets des Muses, s.d. [c.1960] Most likely a pirated edition, it is a copy of the Fortune Press edition but cut down so the numbers are missing. It includes a number of illustrations by Félicien Rops but the reproduction quality is poor.
— The Damned (Là-Bas) (tr. Terry Hale), Harmondsworth: Penguin Classics, 2001.
— Là-Bas: A Journey into the Self (tr. Brendan King), Sawtry: Dedalus Books, 2001.
En route.
— En Route (tr. C K Paul), Kegan Paul, 1896.
— En Route (tr. C K Paul), Dedalus Books, 1994.
La Cathédrale.
— The Cathedral (tr. Clara Bell), Kegan Paul, 1898.
— The Cathedral (tr. Clara Bell), Dedalus Books, 1989.
— The Cathedral (tr. Clara Bell, revised and updated by Brendan King), Dedalus Books, 2011.
Sainte Lydwine de Schiedam.
— Sainte Lydwine of Schiedam (tr. Agnes Hastings), Kegan Paul, 1923.
L’Oblat.
— The Oblate (tr. E Perceval), Kegan Paul, 1924.
— The Oblate (tr. E Perceval), Dedalus Books, 1996.
— The Oblate (tr. Brendan King), Dedalus Books, 2022.
Trois primitifs.
— Grunewald (tr. Robert Baldick), Phaidon Press, 1958.
Les Foules de Lourdes.
— The Crowds of Lourdes (tr. W H Mitchell), Burns Oates & Co, 1925.
En Marge.
— 'Preface to Rimes de joie', in Drinkers of Phosphorous and Other Songs of Joy by Thédore Hannon (tr. Richard Robinson), USA: Snuggly Books, 2020.
— 'Men of Today' ('Les Hommes d'aujourd'hui'), in Drifting' (tr. Brendan King), in Sawtry: Dedalus Books, 2017.
— 'Preface written twenty years after' (Preface d'À rebours), in Against Nature (tr. Brendan King), Sawtry: Dedalus Books, 2008.
