En Route is a novel by the French writer Joris-Karl Huysmans and was first published in 1895. It is the second of Huysmans's books to feature the character Durtal, a thinly disguised portrait of the author himself. Durtal had already appeared in Là-bas, investigating Satanism. En Route and the two subsequent two novels, The Cathedral (French: La Cathédrale) and The Oblate (French: L'Oblat), trace his conversion to Catholicism, an experience which reflects the author's own. As Huysmans explained:
 Title page of the American edition of En Route | |
| Author | Joris-Karl Huysmans |
|---|---|
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
| Genre | Novel |
| Publisher | Tresse & Stock |
Publication date | 1895 |
| Followed by | The Cathedral |
"The plot of the novel is as simple as it could be. I've taken the principal character of Là-Bas, Durtal, had him converted and sent him to a Trappist monastery. In studying his conversion, I've tried to trace the progress of a soul surprised by the gift of grace, and developing in an ecclesiastical atmosphere, to the accompaniment of mystical literature, liturgy, and plainchant, against a background of all that admirable art which the Church has created."[1]
References edit
- ^ Baldick, Robert; King, Brendan (2006). The Life of J.-K. Huysmans (Revised ed.). Dedalus. p. 288.
Further reading edit
- Holland, B. (1901). "Rome and the Novelists," The Edinburgh Review, Vol. CXCIV, pp. 276–301.
- Paul, C. Kegan (1918). "Translator's Note." In: En Route. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., pp. v–xi.
- Ziegler, Robert (1986). "Silencing the Double: the Search for God in Huysmans' En Route," Rocky Mountain Review of Language and Literature, Vol. 40, No. 4, pp. 203–212.
External links edit
- Full French text
- English translation by C. Kegan Paul, at Internet Archive
En Route public domain audiobook at LibriVox
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