Bougran’s Retirement).

1888 Summer Huysmans encounters the work of the Primitives during a visit to Germany.

1889 21 Aug. Funeral of Villiers de l’Isle-Adam. Mallarmé and Huysmans are named his literary executors.

1889 Sept. Huysmans visits Tiffauges, the stronghold of Gilles de Rais. Huysmans meets Berthe de Courrière.

1889 Nov. Publication of Certains, the author’s second volume of critical essays.

1890 5 Feb. Huysmans writes to introduce himself to the former Abbé Boullan.

1890 July La Bièvre (tr. The Bièvre River, 1986), an evocation of the river and its surroundings, is published.

1890 Sept. Huysmans visits Boullan in Lyons.

Berthe de Courrière is interned in Bruges.

1891 15 Feb. L’Echo de Paris begins serialization of Là-Bas (The Damned).

1891 March Henriette Maillat attempts to blackmail Huysmans over the author’s use of her correspondence in Là-Bas.

1891 April Là-Bas published in book form.

1891 28 May Berthe de Courrière introduces Huysmans to the Abbé Mugnier, who will become his spiritual director.

1891 July Pilgrimage to La Salette, followed by a visit to Boullan in Lyons.

1891 25 Sept. Paul Valéry visits Huysmans in his office.

1892 Jan Huysmans holds a seance in his flat.

1892 1 Feb. Salary increases to 5,000 francs p.a.

1892 July Huysmans’ first retreat at Notre-Dame d’Igny.

1893 3 Jan. Boullan dies at Lyons.

1893 3 Sept. Huysmans appointed Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur.

1894 Spring Huysmans meets Dom Besse, who is seeking to develop the small Benedictine community at Saint Wandrille in Normandy.

1895 1 Jan. Salary increases to 6,000 francs p.a.

1895 12 Feb. Death of Anna Meunier, his mistress, in Sainte-Anne.

1895 25 Feb. Publication of En Route (tr. 1896), which describes Durtal’s conversion and subsequent retreat at Notre-Dame d’Igny.

1896 Oct. Sojourn at the Benedictine Abbey of Solesmes.

1898 Jan. La Cathédrale (tr. The Cathedral, 1898), the third volume in the Durtal cycle, is published.

1898 16 Feb. Huysmans retires from the Civil Service after thirty-two years’ service.

1899 June Leaves Paris to take up residence in his purpose-built house at Ligugé.

Publication of La Magie en Poitou (Magic in Poitou).

1900 18 Mar. Huysmans undergoes the ceremony of taking the robes of an oblate novice.

1900 April First meeting of the Académie Goncourt, of which Huysmans is president.

1901 Jan. Three studies by Huysmans of the old quarters of Paris – La Bièvre; Les Gobelins, St-Séverin – are reissued in a de luxe edition.

1901 21 March Huysmans takes his final vows as an oblate.

1901 8 June Publication of Sainte Lydwine de Schiedam (tr. 1923), the harrowing story of the Dutch martyr.

1901 Nov. Publication of De Tout (This and That), a collection of articles.

1901 Oct. Government laws on religious communities oblige Huysmans to leave the abbey at Ligugé.

1903 April Publication of L’Oblat (tr. The Oblate, 1924), the last volume in the Durtal cycle, recounting his stay at Ligugé.

1906 Sept. Les Foules de Lourdes (tr. The Crowds of Lourdes, 1926) published.

1906 8 Nov.