Là-Bas · Chapter
Chapter XII explained
Durtal visits the Chantelouve home, where he engages in conversation with both Hyacinthe and her husband.
What happens
Durtal visits the Chantelouve home, where he engages in conversation with both Hyacinthe and her husband. They discuss the lives of saints, the legend of Bluebeard, and Durtal's theory of a new sin called Pygmalionism. The chapter ends with Madame Chantelouve promising to visit Durtal the following night.
Themes in this chapter
Art and the Artist
Durtal's theory of Pygmalionism explores the artist's love for his own creation, blurring lines between art, desire, and sin.
Religion and Blasphemy
The conversation about saints' lives and the discussion of sacrilege in Pygmalionism highlight tensions between piety and transgression.
Obsession and Desire
Durtal's intense longing for Madame Chantelouve and her calculated responses drive the chapter's emotional undercurrent.
Characters to notice
- Durtal
Visits the Chantelouve home, discusses his work on Gilles de Rais, and proposes the concept of Pygmalionism.
- Mme Chantelouve
Receives Durtal in a white swanskin wrapper, engages in flirtatious and intellectual conversation, and agrees to visit him the next night.
- Hyacinthe Chantelouve
Present as the husband, discusses his work writing saints' biographies and comments on Durtal's theory of sin.
Key passages
“I have had to quit giving dinners and receptions, I can’t even go visiting. I am in harness every day at my desk.”
Chantelouve complains about his heavy workload, saying he no longer has time for social activities.
Chantelouve explains his busy schedule writing saints' biographies.
“The only women you can continue to love are those you lose.”
Madame Chantelouve quotes Durtal's own writing about loving only those women who are unattainable.
She uses his words to challenge his feelings for her.
“Imagine an artist falling in love with his child, his creation: with an Hérodiade, a Judith, a Helen, a Jeanne d’Arc, whom he has either described or painted, and evoking her, and finally possessing her in dream.”
Durtal describes Pygmalionism as an artist becoming enamored with a character he has created or depicted.
He presents this as a new category of sin.