Barbey d’Aurevilly’s world of vestiges
Abstract
Transforming reality into traces of what once was, Barbey d’Aurevilly’s novels create a world of vestiges which entice the reader to pursue what always escapes his grasp. This article distinguishes, among these vestiges, the lost feeling of love in individuals’ lives, the loss of tradition through the turmoil of the French Revolution, and the neglected effects of sin according to the Christian narrative. It then attempts to show how these representations of the past, successively psychological, political and theological, are summoned by a layering of uncertain recollections. These take the form of bodily experience, as characters are faced with their own physical decay over time; of territorial symbols, as loss is woven into the landscape in which those characters evolve; and of mysterious utterances, as custodians of memory both suggest and veil by their words the meaning of events.
Keywords:
traces, vestiges, Barbey d’Aurevilly, novels, history, body, landscapeReferences
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