Sac-au-dos means, literally, "pack-a-back." The "Athenæum" calls the story "a masterpiece of concentrated observation and description." It was first published, with stories by Zola, De Maupassant, and two others, in a collection called "Soirées de Médan." Huysmans, with his minute painting of detail, reminds us of his Dutch ancestry of artists. His art criticisms have marked him the most vigorous and intelligent champion of the impressionists, Moreau, Pissaro, Monet, and Whistler.
He was born at Paris in 1848. After 1892, when he retired to the Trappe de Notre Dame d'Igny, Huysmans showed an altogether new side to his genius. His conversion to Roman Catholicism became complete, and his writings show a more sincere interest in religious matters.
SAC-AU-DOS
BY JORIS KARL HUYSMANS
Translated by L. G. Meyer.
Copyright, 1907, by P. F. Collier & Son.
As soon as I had finished my studies my parents deemed it useful to my career to cause me to appear before a table covered with green cloth and surmounted by the living busts of some old gentlemen who interested themselves in knowing whether I had learned enough of the dead languages to entitle me to the degree of Bachelor.
The test was satisfactory. A dinner to which all my relations, far and near, were invited celebrated my success, affected my future, and ultimately fixed me in the law. Well I passed my examination and got rid of the money provided for my first year's expenses with a blonde girl who, at times, pretended to be fond of me.
I frequented the Latin Quarter assiduously and there I learned many things; among others to take an interest in those students who blew their political opinions into the foam of their beer, every night, then to acquire a taste for the works of George Sand and of Heine, of Edgard Quinet, and of Henri Mürger.