Usages du biographique dans la critique littéraire de Joris-Karl Huysmans

In his literary criticism, Huysmans makes problematic use of the biographical method inherited from Sainte-Beuve: “É. Zola et L’Assommoir” (1877) constructs the portrait of the writer only to distinguish the man and the work more effectively; the self-portrait “J.-K. Huysmans” (1885) carefully selects the biographical elements to use in order to bring out the value of the work; and the preface to Verlaine’s Poésies religieuses (1904) rejects his material life in order to link the work to his spiritual life.