로맨스문학 전통과 존 파울즈의 미스테리 사상

Abstract

Fowles constructs quite a unique vision of mystery which is presented as a system of ideas in The Aristos. Mystery, for Fowles, has multiple layers of meaning in itself. At its fundamental level, mystery means an “unknown” or “unknowable” thing that surrounds human existence and conditions every element of human life. In its second dimension, mystery is conceived of as man’s source of energy, a life-giving force. Finally, since mystery is an unattainable and inexplicable thing in itself, even though mystery guides the human being in his way of the quest, it never gives him an answer or a solution to his existential problems. Instead, mystery gives him the wisdom that he should go on whatever answer he himself finds. Fowles adopts the romance tradition recurrently in most of his major novels, and uses his philosophy of mystery as a structural principle in characterization and plot development. In the novels, examined here, each male protagonist is a quester for mystery, searching for true selfhood or authenticity in his present meaningless existence. Each novel has a mentor figure of mystery who is in fact a disguised figure of the novelist and teaches the protagonist along the way of his existential quest. In each novel, a female character, as an agent of the mystery, comes in and indicates that the protagonist should face the presence of mystery in his own life.