So to give my non-Dutch speakin’ readers an impression of this, in my humble opinion at least, most interesting ánd amusing ‘lost novel’ I translated some paragraphs (from the Dutch edition) for your diabolical readin’ pleasure.

Lees ook: Neo-décadence in De blauwe nacht van Jan Siebelink Via his personage Goëtia Lapidoth informs his Dutch (and German) readers about many of the things Huysmans wrote about in his study of contemporary French satanism which was in its turn described by this fenomenal study on ‘ Occult Paris’ (whose author as far as I know wasn’t familiar with Lapidoth neither).

That he was well acquinted with French modernism is clear from a book he wrote about French artists like Redon, Cheret and Steinlen which he wrote in this same period. Lapidoth wrote his Huysmans’ inspired novel in Paris in 18 (where Couperus might have visited him by the way) and, being a journalist, must have done extensive research and probably knew about the people and things described in his novel from his own experience. The only two people who wrote a few paragraphs about it more than twenty years ago (the Flemish pulp writer Jeroen Brouwers and literary scolar Jacqueline Bel) did so somewhat scornfully and seem not to have taken the trouble to actually read the novel attentively.Īlthough this German translation is by the renowned Else Otten who also translated Louis Couperus, Lapidoth is not mentioned by Mario Praz in his classic study on ’the romantic agony’ while he must have been familiar with Ottens translation of Couperus (who is mentioned). Very rare.’Īlthough in the 1890s it was seen as an important book by allmost any Dutch critic it soon dissappeared from sight due to the aforementioned lack of interest. It has never been studied by international studies on Occult Paris. Goetia is unfortunate, by the commerces of unclean spirits made up of the rites of wicked curiosities, unlawful charms, and deprecations, and is abandoned and execrated by all laws.’Ībout Peladan, Stanislas de Guaita, Magus etc. She’s is named after the black magic practice as described by Agrippa: ‘Now the parts of ceremonial magic are goetia and theurgia.

The Goetia of the title is a Russian princes who has an occult salon in fin de siecle Paris. ‘*Virtually unknown decadent novel, inspired by Huysmans’ satanist novel Là-bas. Nevertheless Goëtia by Frits Lapidoth should be of interest to anyone with even a passing interest in European literature from around 1900 as should be clear from catawiki’s description: ‘Doe maar normaal, dan doe je al gek genoeg.’, as the Dutch say. Some items which could be of interest for European fin de siècle-scolars are an unknown translation of an erotic novel by Marcel Prevost, a hitherto never seen translation of work by Yellow Nineties-writer Hubert Crackanthorpe, an extremely rare translation of pioneering feminist George Egerton, one of the very earliest Zola published in the Netherlands, George Ohnet, an unfindable translation of proto-decadent Jean Richepin, rare books concerning the early reception of Vincent van Gogh, a curious ‘Russian’ novel, rare Wildeiana, and an illustrated edition of Villiers de l’Isle Adam.Īl these books are in Dutch though but it happens that one book that is sure to be of interest to the aforementioned fin de siècle-scolars is in German, a language that is probably familiar to at least some of them.Īs you all know, Satan is a friend of mine but not of the Dutch nor the few (academic) fin de siècle-scolars as the interest in symbolism, occultism decadentism and satanism has always been zero to none here. This one of a kind collection focuses mainly on (symbolist, decadent, modernist) art and literature and contains many extremely rare novels, artists’ novels, early feminism, fin de siècle-erotica and virtually unknown translations. Next week the second part of a Dutch private collection of fin de siècle-books

George egerton a lost masterpiece