282 research outputs found
Sort by
« Qu’est-ce que la Religion universelle ? » : étude sur une question posée par Baudelaire
Get PDFIn “My heart laid bare” Baudelaire writes about the “Universal Religion” devised for “the alchemists of thought,” “a religion that comes from man, considered as a divine memento.” The idea, as we read in the text, was inspired by the writings of Chateaubriand, De Maistre and those of the “Alexandrians”. And indeed, the two former authors wrote explicitly about a „universal tradition” that finds its fulfillment in the Catholic religion. It does not matter if we recognize the “Alexandrians” as representatives of the Neoplatonic school, the Alexandrian Fathers of Church, or disciples of Hermetism, the very term implies a tradition of both syncretic and mystic character that resembles gnosis. Baudelaire’s “Universal Religion,” despite his Catholic convictions, cannot be associated with Catholicism. Based on a universal transmission of myths and symbols, it rather refers to eternal truths about man as well as to the divine source of all beings – also in the modern world, which puts God’s existence in doubt.In “My heart laid bare” Baudelaire writes about the “Universal Religion” devised for “the alchemists of thought,” “a religion that comes from man, considered as a divine memento.” The idea, as we read in the text, was inspired by the writings of Chateaubriand, De Maistre and those of the “Alexandrians”. And indeed, the two former authors wrote explicitly about a „universal tradition” that finds its fulfillment in the Catholic religion. It does not matter if we recognize the “Alexandrians” as representatives of the Neoplatonic school, the Alexandrian Fathers of Church, or disciples of Hermetism, the very term implies a tradition of both syncretic and mystic character that resembles gnosis. Baudelaire’s “Universal Religion,” despite his Catholic convictions, cannot be associated with Catholicism. Based on a universal transmission of myths and symbols, it rather refers to eternal truths about man as well as to the divine source of all beings – also in the modern world, which puts God’s existence in doubt
Le « sacré gauche » chez Georges Bataille et Hubert Aquin
Get PDFGeorges Bataille and Hubert Aquin both explore a mystical experience displaying strong similarities, related to what Roger Caillois called « left sacred », that is the impure, malefic sacred, which is accessible by transgression and corresponds to the privileged moment of unity between people. For Bataille, God is absent, even dead: Lamma sabachtani is no longer a question but an assertion in his essays. The object of his new mystical theology is not God, but « the unknown». The divine is reduced to the human, transcendence to immanence. The goal is to free the mystical experience from its religious background and to make ecstasy accessible to every-one. It is precisely by communicating that men can break their isolation and unite themselves with others. « Eroticism of bodies » and « eroticism of hearts » are two of the experiences proposed by Bataille which lead to the sacred. Hubert Aquin is also fascinated by the « left sacred », by eroticism in particular, but it represents for him a temptation which eliminates from the « right sacred » Jesus Christ and perfection He is, for Aquin, the absolute corresponding to the communion between the human being and the Son of God ; it consists in being reborn and in living in “the Christ of the Revelation”.Georges Bataille and Hubert Aquin both explore a mystical experience displaying strong similarities, related to what Roger Caillois called « left sacred », that is the impure, malefic sacred, which is accessible by transgression and corresponds to the privileged moment of unity between people. For Bataille, God is absent, even dead: Lamma sabachtani is no longer a question but an assertion in his essays. The object of his new mystical theology is not God, but « the unknown». The divine is reduced to the human, transcendence to immanence. The goal is to free the mystical experience from its religious background and to make ecstasy accessible to every-one. It is precisely by communicating that men can break their isolation and unite themselves with others. « Eroticism of bodies » and « eroticism of hearts » are two of the experiences proposed by Bataille which lead to the sacred. Hubert Aquin is also fascinated by the « left sacred », by eroticism in particular, but it represents for him a temptation which eliminates from the « right sacred » Jesus Christ and perfection He is, for Aquin, the absolute corresponding to the communion between the human being and the Son of God ; it consists in being reborn and in living in “the Christ of the Revelation”
Autour de l’axis mundi. De la notion théorique à la mise en image littéraire dans l’œuvre de Jules Verne (Voyages et aventures du capitaine Hatteras et Le Sphinx des glaces)
Get PDFThe symbolism of axis mundi constitutes an integral part of cultural and religious systems across the world. Such symbolism appears clearly and precisely in all forms of religious life. As it is stressed by Eliade, many a time, axis mundi is an intersection of three varied ontological zones (the interior of the Earth, the surface of the Earth, and the Heaven) and creates a contact place of man with sacrum. The axis mundi symbolism, analysed here as a part of literary studies, is reflected also in two important novels by Julius Verne (Adventures of Captain Hatteras, 1864-65 ; An Arctic Mystery, 1897) dedicated to the polar regions. In both novels, such sites (the north-ern and southern poles) become a literary image of axis mundi, while the hypothesis finds its confirmation in the nature of psychological experiences of the heroes cast in the polar regions. The symbolic and religious study of such experiences leads to the conclusion that in both the analysed cases they may be understood as an experience of a contact with sacrum.The symbolism of axis mundi constitutes an integral part of cultural and religious systems across the world. Such symbolism appears clearly and precisely in all forms of religious life. As it is stressed by Eliade, many a time, axis mundi is an intersection of three varied ontological zones (the interior of the Earth, the surface of the Earth, and the Heaven) and creates a contact place of man with sacrum. The axis mundi symbolism, analysed here as a part of literary studies, is reflected also in two important novels by Julius Verne (Adventures of Captain Hatteras, 1864-65 ; An Arctic Mystery, 1897) dedicated to the polar regions. In both novels, such sites (the north-ern and southern poles) become a literary image of axis mundi, while the hypothesis finds its confirmation in the nature of psychological experiences of the heroes cast in the polar regions. The symbolic and religious study of such experiences leads to the conclusion that in both the analysed cases they may be understood as an experience of a contact with sacrum
Les crucifix comiques dans quelques textes du Moyen Age français
Get PDFThe presence of the crucifix in comical literature is a special case of an encounter of the sacred and the profane. It appears in several French medieval texts, where it is associated with sexuality or with food, it is treated with familiarity and even casualness, which is not meant to outrage the public, but to make people laugh. The profanation with which we are dealing here has many aspects, depending on whether it can be assigned to a particular personage or to the author, since it is included in the story itself. In the former case, much can be justified by simplicity, but the intentions of the personage do not always seem pure. In the latter case, contrary to expectation, the sacrilege is not necessarily associated with anticlericalism. However, what is the most interesting is the question of the reception of this kind of texts in a profoundly Christian society.The presence of the crucifix in comical literature is a special case of an encounter of the sacred and the profane. It appears in several French medieval texts, where it is associated with sexuality or with food, it is treated with familiarity and even casualness, which is not meant to outrage the public, but to make people laugh. The profanation with which we are dealing here has many aspects, depending on whether it can be assigned to a particular personage or to the author, since it is included in the story itself. In the former case, much can be justified by simplicity, but the intentions of the personage do not always seem pure. In the latter case, contrary to expectation, the sacrilege is not necessarily associated with anticlericalism. However, what is the most interesting is the question of the reception of this kind of texts in a profoundly Christian society
La quête du sacré dans les romans de Chantal Deltenre
Get PDFLa plus que mère, La Cérémonie des poupées and La Maison de l’âme, the trilogy of the Belgian writer and ethnologist Chantal Deltenre – published in the first decade of the 21st century, illustrates post-modern religiosity, the main characteristics of which are diversity, syncretism and relativism. The search for sacrum is supposed to be a kind of initiation journey undertaken mostly by lost and uprooted individuals. It is a search for a safe and meaningful space (place), which is not just the opposite of the shapeless and meaningless world of profanum, but also one that allows to build one’s own identity.La plus que mère, La Cérémonie des poupées and La Maison de l’âme, the trilogy of the Belgian writer and ethnologist Chantal Deltenre – published in the first decade of the 21st century, illustrates post-modern religiosity, the main characteristics of which are diversity, syncretism and relativism. The search for sacrum is supposed to be a kind of initiation journey undertaken mostly by lost and uprooted individuals. It is a search for a safe and meaningful space (place), which is not just the opposite of the shapeless and meaningless world of profanum, but also one that allows to build one’s own identity
La transposition profane de l’Exode dans Moïse fiction de Gilles Rozier
Get PDFThroughout the centuries French and Francophone writers were relatively rarely inspired by the figure of Moses and the story of Exodus. However, since the second half of 20th c. the interest of the writers in this Old Testament story has been on the rise: by rewriting it they examine the question of identity dilemmas of contemporary men. One of the examples of this trend is Moïse Fiction, the 2001 novel by the French writer of Jewish origin, Gilles Rozier, analysed in the present article. The hypertextual techniques, which result in the proximisation of the figure of Moses to the reality of the contemporary reader, constitute literary profanation, but at the same time help place Rozier’s text in the Jewish tradition, in the spirit of talmudism understood as an exchange of views, commentaries, versions and additions related to the Torah. It is how the novel, a new “midrash”, avoids the simple antinomy of the concepts of the sacred and the profane. Rozier’s Moses, conscious of his complex identity, is simultaneously a Jew and an Egyptian, and faces, like many contemporary Jewish writers, language dilemmas, which constitute one of the major motifs analysed in the present article. Another key question is the ethics of the prophetism of the novelistic Moses, who seems to speak for contemporary people, doomed to in the world perceived as chaos unsupervised by an absolute being. Rozier’s agnostic Moses is a prophet not of God (who does not appear in the novel), but of humanism understood as the confrontation of a human being with the absurdity of his or her own finiteness, which produces compassion for the other, with whom the fate of a mortal is shared.Throughout the centuries French and Francophone writers were relatively rarely inspired by the figure of Moses and the story of Exodus. However, since the second half of 20th c. the interest of the writers in this Old Testament story has been on the rise: by rewriting it they examine the question of identity dilemmas of contemporary men. One of the examples of this trend is Moïse Fiction, the 2001 novel by the French writer of Jewish origin, Gilles Rozier, analysed in the present article. The hypertextual techniques, which result in the proximisation of the figure of Moses to the reality of the contemporary reader, constitute literary profanation, but at the same time help place Rozier’s text in the Jewish tradition, in the spirit of talmudism understood as an exchange of views, commentaries, versions and additions related to the Torah. It is how the novel, a new “midrash”, avoids the simple antinomy of the concepts of the sacred and the profane. Rozier’s Moses, conscious of his complex identity, is simultaneously a Jew and an Egyptian, and faces, like many contemporary Jewish writers, language dilemmas, which constitute one of the major motifs analysed in the present article. Another key question is the ethics of the prophetism of the novelistic Moses, who seems to speak for contemporary people, doomed to in the world perceived as chaos unsupervised by an absolute being. Rozier’s agnostic Moses is a prophet not of God (who does not appear in the novel), but of humanism understood as the confrontation of a human being with the absurdity of his or her own finiteness, which produces compassion for the other, with whom the fate of a mortal is shared
Sacrum et profanum dans Yonec de Marie de France (XIIe siècle)
Get PDFIn the Breton lais, we encounter a brilliant marriage of the Celtic and Christian « marvel » (merveilleux), which is revealed on various semiotic levels. The zones of sacrum and profanum interpenetrate and provoke the reader’s afterthoughts with abundant and profound imagery. In Yonec by Marie de France, at the moment when the coming from Autre Monde protagonist is receiving the Eucharist, he con-stitutes one body with his beloved. In this paper, I attempt to uncover a spiritual meaning/message underlying the text, characters-symbols. The clue to this analysis is the idea of transition: from one status to another, from one figure to another, or from one meaning to another.In the Breton lais, we encounter a brilliant marriage of the Celtic and Christian « marvel » (merveilleux), which is revealed on various semiotic levels. The zones of sacrum and profanum interpenetrate and provoke the reader’s afterthoughts with abundant and profound imagery. In Yonec by Marie de France, at the moment when the coming from Autre Monde protagonist is receiving the Eucharist, he con-stitutes one body with his beloved. In this paper, I attempt to uncover a spiritual meaning/message underlying the text, characters-symbols. The clue to this analysis is the idea of transition: from one status to another, from one figure to another, or from one meaning to another.
 
Le choix de Ponce Pilate, entre le sacré et le profane
Get PDFAt the beginning of The Man and the Sacred (1939) Roger Caillois affirmed that “every religious conception of the universe implies that there is a distinction between the sacred and the profane”. Caillois discussed the theme of the sacred throughout his life, in several essays, articles and lectures. In 1961, Caillois wrote Pontius Pilate, a brief novel in which he explored the dilemma of the governor of Judea. For the first time, Caillois changed genre. The author escaped the theme of the sacred by way of the novel. The purpose of this paper is to show how the theme of the sacred leads to a comparison between the thought of Caillois, the theories of the College of Sociology, and the theme of The Scapegoat by René Girard.At the beginning of The Man and the Sacred (1939) Roger Caillois affirmed that “every religious conception of the universe implies that there is a distinction between the sacred and the profane”. Caillois discussed the theme of the sacred throughout his life, in several essays, articles and lectures. In 1961, Caillois wrote Pontius Pilate, a brief novel in which he explored the dilemma of the governor of Judea. For the first time, Caillois changed genre. The author escaped the theme of the sacred by way of the novel. The purpose of this paper is to show how the theme of the sacred leads to a comparison between the thought of Caillois, the theories of the College of Sociology, and the theme of The Scapegoat by René Girard