Abstract: In En route, La Cathédrale, and L’Oblat, Huysmans succeeds in detailing Durtal’s spiritual journey while also paying the closest attention to the organic aspect of his life. The concept of the body and of sickness is thus imbued with a dolorist religious significance. At the same time, the psycho-physiological depiction of the character obsessed with his health builds a more nuanced discourse around the glorification of suffering; this is the touchstone of Huysmans’ work about religious conversion.
