En Route (Esprios Classics)

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, La Cathédrale and L’Oblat, trace his conversion to Catholicism, an experience which reflects the author’s own. The novel was published by Tresse et Stock on February 23, 1895. Its literary qualities were generally appreciated at once (Paul Valéry was especially enthusiastic) but many expressed doubts as to the sincerity of Huysmans’s religious conversion until the author was defended at a public lecture by Abbé Mugnier.