About two summers ago I purchased J.K. Huysmans novel "La-Bas" (aka "Down There" or "The Damned") and it has since become one of my ten favorite novels. I first came across Huysmans name some time ago, most likely in Kenneth Grant's "Cults of the Shadow" (which also lists many other such Decadent writers from that period in 19th-century France). This year I began exploring some of Huysmans' other work, along with various other writers of the fin-de-siecle period (for example, Jean Lorrain and Remy de Gourmont), and it's very fascinating reading.
One thing that interests me about this particular literary movement is how almost all of these decadent and symbolist writers had a great deal of interest in the occult, in particular, Satanism, which seemed to be a trendy topic in France at that particular point in time (and for all I know, maybe it still is, if the conspiracy theories are correct). Right now I'm trying to find books that deal with this subject. Any recommendations? I do have my eye, at the moment, on Gary Lachman's "A Dark Muse: A History of the Occult" (which seems to have at the very least a chapter or two devoted to Satanism and its relationship with the fin-de-siecle movement).
I'm also trying to find more information on a certain Abbe Joseph Boullan, a defrocked Catholic priest who served as the inspiration for one of the good characters in "La-Bas" (though in fact in real life it seems he was something of a fraud, and a dangerous one at that). I first came across Boullan's name (once again) in "Cults of the Shadow" where Grant mentions that Michael Bertiaux claimed to be in direct astral communication with Boullan (in fact, Bertiaux even "interviews" Boullan in one of the fourth year course papers of the Monastary of the Seven Rays). Boullan seems to have claimed that the path to true knowledge and salvation was by having sex with entities on a higher plane, such as angels (he also taught nuns a method of auto-hypnosis by which they could dream they were having sexual intercourse with Christ). However, it seems that information on Boullan on the Internet at least is lacking, and I can't seem to find any English translations of his writings (or even any of his writings at all, for that matter). Any further information on this Abbe would be very helpful to me. |
