''The Oblate'' (french: L'Oblat) is the last novel by the French writer
Joris-Karl Huysmans, first published in 1903.
''The Oblate'' is the final book in Huysmans' cycle of four novels featuring the character Durtal, a thinly disguised portrait of the author himself. Durtal had already appeared in ''
Là-bas'', ''
En route'' and ''
The Cathedral'', which traced his (and the author's) conversion to
Catholicism.
In ''The Oblate'', Durtal becomes an
oblate
In Christianity (especially in the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and Methodist traditions), an oblate is a person who is specifically dedicated to God or to God's service.
Oblates are individuals, either laypersons or clergy, normally livi ...
, reflecting Huysmans' own experiences in the religious community at
Ligugé. Like many of Huysmans' other novels, it has little plot. The author uses the book to examine the Christian
liturgy
Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. ''Liturgy'' can also be used to refer specifically to public worship by Christians. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and partic ...
, express his opinions about the state of Catholicism in contemporary France and explore the question of suffering.
Sources
*
External links
Full French Text at
Internet Archive
1924 English translation by Edward Perceval
1903 French novels
Catholic novels
Novels by Joris-Karl Huysmans
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