Fanspot
Villa Notre-Dame
– Do you know who owned this house?
– Uh… To the decadent writer?
– Exactly! Huysmans came in 1899, after a career in Paris. He is the one who built this building. He took refuge here, convinced that he was bewitched.
The owner of the guest house and Aiko Moriyama
Undercover student at the Sorbonne in Paris, Aiko Moriyama goes to the abbey of Ligugé to consult a manuscript of Christian magic.
During her stay, she stayed at the Maison Huysmans, also called Villa Notre-Dame, in the village of the small town of Poitiers, not far from Poitiers.
She discovers the troubled past of the former owner of the place, Joris-Karl Huysmans. He lived in this house for two years (1899 to 1901) after fleeing Paris and the tumult of life in the capital. The writer had published Là-bas, a novel considered satanic in 1891. In choosing Ligugé, he had come especially to seek peace and quiet and to get closer to the monastery of the town, he who had converted to Catholicism after the throes of his sulphurous book. It was within the walls of the Villa Notre-Dame that he wrote The Oblate, an autobiography in disguise. An oblate is a lay person who gives himself to a monastery without having taken his vows.
The repentant novelist and his story are tasty elements that Benoist Simmat did not hesitate to slip into the plot of Gamma Draconis, a manga where esotericism is the central point. The heroine, Aiko, tries to unravel an investigation into a mysterious international organization. In addition to Ligugé, she is brought to cross Tokyo and London in order to pierce the secrets of this occult office between esotericism, transhumanism and black magic. As for Eldo Yoshimizu, the Japanese mangaka, he even came on site to document his illustrations with photographs and preparatory sketches.
The Villa Notre-Dame was built in 1899 for the writer Joris-Karl Huysmans. It is now located at 4 rue J.K. Huysmans in Ligugé (86)
4 Rue J K Huysmans
This beautiful house was built for J.K. Huysmans in 1899 in the village of Ligugé in the Vienne at number 4 rue Huysmans.
A plaque is affixed to the front of the house reminding us that it was built for the famous writer: J.-K. HUYSMANS ÉCRIVIAN FRANCAIS OBLAT DE LIGUGÉ BUILT THIS HOUSE IN 1898 AND LIVED IN IT FROM JULY 1899 TO OCTOBER 1901 SOCIÉTÉ J.K.H I.VI 1950.
Built on a T-shaped plan and with two perpendicular parts, this house is composed of a basement floor, a raised first floor, a square floor and an attic floor.
To reach the main entrance, you just have to climb a few steps and find yourself on a porch covered by a terrace and extended by a gallery.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
The Fantrippers Buying Board
Gamma Draconis
Aiko Moriyama studied religious art at the Sorbonne, but her research in occultism quickly led her down a dangerous path. When several experts around her come under attack from a mysterious entity rising from the depths of the web, she finds herself embroiled in a police investigation involving the sinister leader of an international organization. From London to Tokyo, between transhumanism and black magic, Aiko is determined to solve the enigma of Gamma Draconis and to discover how exactly her family is involved…
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By Damien Canteau
Passionné par l'Histoire, les animés, les Arts et la bande dessinée en particulier, Damien est le rédacteur en chef du site spécialisé dans le 9e art, Comixtrip.