76 - HUYSMANS (Joris-Karl). Signed autograph letter [to Father Gabriel Ferret]. No place, “Thursday evening” [early February 1897]. 4 pp., in-16.

HUYSMANS (Joris-Karl). Signed autograph letter [to Father Gabriel Ferret]. No place, “Thursday evening” [early February 1897]. 4 pp., in-16. “My dearest friend, I am writing to you after seeing the good Father Mocquereau off to the Lazarists, where he is staying for a few days in Paris. He had dinner at our house tonight—how we missed you! I saw Mr. LECLAIRE today [at the home of Léon Leclaire, a friend of Huysmans’s who lived with him in Ligugé, and to whom he dedicated *SAINTE LYDWINE DE SCHIEDHAM* in 1901], and from the letter you wrote to him, I can see that you’re still getting by as best you can; that it’s taking a long time despite all the eucalyptus! After all, it’s impossible that all the prayers we’re all saying aren’t speeding up your recovery! I had a fairly long conversation with Fr. Mocquereau regarding THE OBLATE COMMUNITY. IT’S A BLANK CHECK, entirely at the abbot’s disposal. There have been oblates at Solesmes, but they are indistinguishable from the Fathers; they live exactly the same life, without reservation. Dom Mocquereau advised me to speak with the Abbess about this, as she knows Dom Guéranger’s [Prosper Guéranger, restorer of the Order of Saint Benedict and refounder of the Abbey of Solesmes] ideas on the subject better than anyone else. In fact, there are no specific rules—and DOM ROMAIN’S VERY BROAD STATEMENT [Louis Banquet, known as Dom Romain, founder of the Benedictine Abbey of En-Calcat in the Tarn], “THE OBLATE TAKES FROM THE RULE WHAT HE CAN TAKE,” DOES NOT SEEM TO ME TO EXIST IN THE SPIRIT OF THE ABBOT OF SOLESMES, WHICH IS MORE IMPERATIVE AND MILITARY-LIKE... I’m worn out from work. The good Thomasson de Gournay [Gabriel Thomasson de Gournay, a monk at Solesmes] sent me a splendid collection of plant symbols. I finished this fantastic chapter today. Here I am hard at work on the North Portal. Stock is screaming with impatience, and requests are pouring in. ABBÉ MUGNIER TELLS ME THAT THE FAUBOURG GERMAIN, THE DE MEAUX FAMILY—CHANTERS, SACRISTANS, AND HERALDIC EXPERTS—ARE VERY STUBBORN DEFENDERS OF *En Route*. WE’LL SEE WHAT THEY HAVE TO SAY IN *Le Correspondant*, to which I’ve sent back the proof with the “go-ahead” [the first chapter of *La Cathédrale* was set to appear in a pre-publication edition on February 10, 1897, along with a review by Arthur Mugnier, in the Catholic journal *Le Correspondant*, co-founded by Augustin de Meaux]. Another matter. I learned today that THE JESUITS HAD ASKED AT THE RESTAURANT WHERE I HAVE LUNCH IN THE MORNING WHETHER I WAS OBSERVING A MEATLESS DIET ON FRIDAY. Upon receiving an affirmative answer, they told the person who relayed this to me that they were now convinced of my conversion. ISN’T THAT ENOUGH OF A MESS AND ENOUGH OF A FOOLISHNESS! Still, I really wonder what interest these people have in having me spied on like this and meddling in my affairs, when I, for my part, don’t meddle in theirs. What I don’t know—and what they didn’t want to tell me—is, for example, the name of the Jesuit who came up with this brilliant conclusion! How petty it all is when one thinks of the Virgin Mary and the cloisters! And on that note, was I well received by Wisques? The Benedictine monk from Solesmes, André Mocquereau—who, as a musicologist, was one of the restorers of Gregorian chant—was Huysmans’ spiritual director. Huysmans, who was preparing to become an oblate, made three visits to Solesmes, in 1896, 1897, and 1898.