Summary

After his visit with Myriam, Francois kept to himself for a week not even feeling up to going to his Wednesday class. He felt that he had already achieved all of his goals a decade ago with the defense of his dissertation and the publication of his book, and he no longer had any motivation. He thought of the progression of Huysmans’ novels and the author’s eventual conversion to Catholicism. François admitted that it was hard for him, as an atheist to relate to the spiritual awakening that the character, Durtal undergoes in L’Oblat (1903). In fact, the idea of it bored him. Thinking of all this, François realized that just as Against Nature was the pinnacle of Huysmans’ career, Myriam was the pinnacle of his love life.

He realized that the elections were rapidly approaching though admittedly, he was...