Art And Religion,Constructive Dimensions Of Human Existence In Fictional Works Of Marguerite Yourcenar

Marguerite Yourcenar is a great figure of French literature in the twentieth century,whose work has a wide impact on world literature and still has an important value today.In 1980,she became the first woman elected to the French Academy.In 1982,Gallimard published a volume of Yourcenar’s novels in the collection "Pléiade",which contains all of her novelistic works,strongly emphasizing the importance of the author.Our work seeks to reveal in Yourcenar’s novels and short stories a philosophy on human existence with a quest for meaning,in relation to recurring themes such as artistic elements,the life/death theme,travel,silence,etc.The academic value of this thesis is shown in the following aspects.First,since Yourcenar’s novels reflect in the most complete way the evolution of the author’s vision,and human existence is a very frequent theme in her work,our study aims to bring a better understanding of the philosophy of human existence in Yourcenar’s work,and of the structure within her writing as a whole.Second,based on current research,our study takes a complex approach by linking the themes of art and religion to the quests of Yourcenarian protagonists,in an attempt to give new meaning to human existence.The introduction to our study is devoted to stating the research context,the problematic,the corpus,the methodology and the plan of the thesis.The thesis has four parts:The first part relies on textual analysis using the concept of "transitional space" derived from the thoughts of Hannah Arendt and Donald Winnicott,in order to relate art,religion and human existence.In particular,we focus on two specific themes: light and order,whose thematic,hermeneutic and phenomenological richness will be respectively explored in Yourcenar’s stories.We also summarize how the author borrowed certain ideas from the visual arts in her writing,for example the treatment of light and shadow,the conception of space,the play of the mirror in the construction of her characters,etc.The second part continues with an analysis of the transgressive outlines that emerge from a relatively static transitional space,examining the analogy and interaction between the macrocosm and microcosm of the characters.The third part analyzes the quest of the main characters and their destiny,taking the human body as an entry point.We analyze the four "thresholds" in the quest for self(illness,dream,desire and death),as well as the image of artist and God.By drawing parallels between artist and God,we reveal and discuss not only the commonalities between them,but also the singularization of the heroes and their fates that Yourcenar assigns to her protagonists.The fourth part takes "universality" as a clue: we use Paul Ric?ur’s hermeneutic ideas to explore the extension of the text’s meaning in terms of time and space,in chronological and synchronic axes,in order to reveal and argue the evolution of Yourcenar’s vision of human existence through her writing.We analyze how the spiritual encounter between Yourcenar and her philosopher contemporaries(Malraux,Caillois,etc.)led her to give special importance to humanism,and how Eastern and Western thoughts meet in her approach to go beyond the humanist ideal in favor of a synthetic mysticism.In the conclusion,we re-evaluate the writing on art and religion in the present age and summarize the richness of the author’s vision.The main characters in her works are usually constructed both as a moving spirit,in constant interaction with the world around him,and as a serene and peaceful soul,confirmed in its essence by a quest for the Sacred and the Truth.Art and religion thus serve as sublimation to a path of Salvation,building the constitutive dimensions of human existence in the author’s vision,under the spirit of linking.