Dominique Fernandez's Caravaggio Novel 'La Course à l'abîme'

Dominique Fernandez has published 'La Course à l'abîme' (Grasset), a monumental historical novel about Caravaggio. The book explores the painter's life and work, focusing on the erotic and aesthetic tensions in his art. Fernandez, known for 'Dans la main de l'ange', uses Caravaggio's story to examine the artist's negotiation with power and desire. The novel follows Caravaggio's violent and excessive life, framed as a 'race to the abyss'. It joins recent French literary engagements with Caravaggio, including Guy Walter's 'Le Caravage, peintre' (Verticales, 2001) and Leo Bersani and Ulysse Dutoit's essay 'Les Secrets du Caravage' (atelier/EPEL, discussed in Art Press issue 287). Fernandez's work is praised for its mastery of the romantic genre and its subversive take on art and sexuality.