This is the final part in the spiritual journey of Durtal, J.-K. Huysmans' alter ego. From the satanism of La-Bas (1891), he makes his way to the foot of the cross and embraces Roman Catholicism, first retreating to a Trappist monastery in En Route (1895), then living in Chartres and studying Catholic symbolism in The Cathedral (1898), and finally joining a community of monks in The Oblate (1903). Here, Durtal's spiritual quest collides with contemporary political reality when the monastery is closed down by an anti-clerical Republican government and the religious community at Val-des-Saints is forced to disperse.
