프랑수아 모리악의 성서적 해석과 자아의식

Abstract

Francois Mauriac (1885-1970) is one of the representative 20th century French Catholic writers. Through his novel, Le Roman, Mauriac evidently reveals that his novels deviate from the traditional religious novels, which are rooted in deep Catholic doctrines. This is because his calling as a writer is not in religion itself but rather in the amazing happenings of vivid everyday experiences. Mauriac confesses that ‘these amazing happenings’ are those occurrences that he has experienced in reality and translated into the inner world of the fictional characters. Mauriac substitutes the purity of young children with the mentality of an adolescent. As the innocent image of youth is contrasted with the mental pollution, Mauriac ultimately prevents sinners from completely falling into the abyss. As a measure of presenting the wandering characters with the final chance for salvation, Mauriac returns to a memory or image of spiritual innocence. Passion is a form of human possessiveness that eventually strips the human of communication and ability, leaving man to utter conflict and pain. Presented with the fallacy of passion, the character undergoes fatal solitude with the loss offaith, love, and the reason to live on before eventually executing an escape. However, that escape is not an exit but a mere secluded area of awaiting the coming death. Inevitably, the character is pushed to conspire with the evil. In Mauriac’s novels, evil is the seduction that lies within the hearts of the fictional characters, and is a ‘bad force’ as well as the cause of false existence. The characters question themselves within seclusion and experience internal transformation. This internal transformation includes regret and repentancefor sins. Through this process, the characters experience the gentle light of God’s grace. Finally, the paper examines Mauriac’s religious beliefs through his writing style and biblical interpretation. Mauriac chooses an abrupt salvation method. The Bible includes many analogies of how God does not differentiate subjects regarding immediate salvation through mental transformation and faith. Once repentance and penitence areachieved, salvation can only be provided at the last moment of life. This is because such spiritual consciousness is established through the knowledge of evil. For this reason, Mauriac has to have a firm understanding of a verse: "Holy Spirit blows in the direction He wishes." This verse implies that the appropriate time of salvation is known only to God. It is thus apparent that Mauriac is a devoted Catholic writer who understands traditional religious studies and the Bible. This study is divided into three chapters. First, the fictional characters are classified into three groups of people whom Jesus loves, including "children," "Maria," and "the regained son." Through this classification, the paper seeks to examine Mauriac’s biblical reproduction as well as to reflect on Mauriacal interpretation. Then, the paper will study the God’s role together with the writer’s biblical interpretation of salvation. Finally, the study aims to reveal the correlation between the writer’s biblical interpretation and self-consciousness.