Le silence comme signe (in)visible du mal dans l’œuvre romanesque de Georges Bernanos
Journal Title: Quêtes littéraires - Year 2017, Vol 0, Issue 7
Abstract
"Silence as an (in)visible sign of evil in Bernanos’ novels" ABSTRACT: From Sous le Soleil de Satan to Monsieur Ouine, Bernanos’ novels are characterized by the emergence of ‘supernatural silence(s)’ (Bernanos 2015 : 679), which can prove to be disturbing. The brutal sign of evil’s appeance in the narrative limits in most cases the character to silence, to verbal incapacity. Indeed, evil has the strength to hold thought and speech in check. That is the reason why the characters that are racked by evil make good use of language so that they don’t say anything genuine nor honest. Bernanos’ writing succeds in defining these silences thanks to numerous ellipsis as well as things that remain unmentioned, embarrased silences, thus emphasizing the presence of the supernatural. Punctuation in particular takes an important part in creating breaks, switchovers within sentences as well as in the narrative. These silences show off an experience that cannot be told. As a consequence, a true rhetoric of what is unspeakable is at stake in Bernanos’ novels. The use of adjectives made up with privative prefixes, indefinite pronouns, rough phrases and other figures of what is unspoken, contribute to explaining evil’s unbelievable experience.
Authors and Affiliations
Alexandra Roux-Troyes
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP302934
- DOI 10.31743/ql.166
- Views 93
- Downloads 0
« Silence lourd et blanc comme une colère qui monte » : donner corps au silence dans La Chambre des enfants de Louis-René des Forêts
"Heavy and white silence as a growing anger": to embodie the silence in The Children’s Chamber by Louis-René des Forêts ABSTRACT: This article try to demonstrate how the silence takes shape : it becomes a dangerous cha...
Intimité de Jean-Victor Pellerin, ou à la recherche du « théâtre du silence »
Intimacy by Jean-Victor Pellerin, or in search of „theatre of the silence” ABSTRACT: Jean-Victor Pellerin was a representative author of the „school of silence” or, as some called it, „art of unexpressed”, in which emot...
Mon portrait par Bonnat : imaginaire scénique de l’homme politique républicain
"A Portrait by Léon Bonnat. Republican politicians on stage" ABSTRACT: Before World War 1, French painter Léon Bonnat became famous by portraying celebrities, among which almost every leading politician in the newly fou...
D’une hétérotopie à l’autre où le vagabondage au féminin (Jean Echenoz, Un an)
"From one Heterotopia to another or the Vagrancy at the Feminine Gender (Jean Echenoz, One Year)" ABSTRACT: Jean Echenoz’s text presents Victoria’s story who runs away from Paris, believing that she has killed her lover...
Sur les traces du vagabond dans les textes beauvoiriens : exploration du monde et découverte de l’autre
"In the footsteps of a vagabond: exploring the world and discovering "the Other" in the works of Simone de Beauvoir" ABSTRACT: Simone de Beauvoir – a writer, journalist, and philosopher, a pioneer of modern feminism, a...