Reflections at a Stagnant Pool: Writing Mystical Experience in Huysmans's En route

Abstract

ABSTRACTWhen urbanite Durtal, J.-K. Huysmans's alter ego, takes a spiritual retreat in a Trappist monastery, he spends a significant amount of time next to a pond that mirrors the imposing crucifix that stands in front of the monastery. This pond proves to be an apt metaphor for the different stages of Durtal's spiritual life: whereas the pond's drab water, full of decomposing leaves resembles the state of his soul before his confession, he also considers its stagnant water a representation of the blessings of contemplative life in the monastery. The natural site is also where Durtal has supernatural, mystical experiences: it is on the edge of the cruciform pond that Durtal lives a ‘Dark Night of the Soul’ and next to the larger pond where he feels an overwhelming sense of the illuminating presence of God. However, these passages also show Huysmans's struggles with language and style when describing a supernatural encounter, and his efforts to translate his supranaturalist aesthetics into language. This paper examines the pond as a site of spiritual experience, and argues that it represents the impossibility of writing spiritual experience. It analyzes the literary portrayal of the ineffable, and explores the limits of representation.