(Not) in accordance with the father’s convictions, and (not) according the Bible: the world of intertextual biblical references in François Weyergans’s novel Franz and François
Adam Jarosz
Abstract
The Bible, called by Northrop Frye “the great code”, is an inexhaustible collection of great symbolic images and a source of ethical norms. This – what one might call the pedagogic or educational aspect of the Bible – is powerfully present in the autobiographical novel by François Weyergans entitled Franz and François. Weyergans’s novel is not just a study of a difficult relationship between father and son, but also an excuse for creating a unique narrative space in which the main protagonist, François, initiates a dialogue with the Bible (perceived through a system of intertextual references), and with various interpretations thereof, put forward by his father, Franz, a Catholic novelist. Taking into account the highly polemical bent of the dialogue, the aim of the present paper is not a systematic presentation of all the biblical references and allusions detected in the novel, but, rather, an attempt to present a few existentially fraught situations from the life of François. In these contexts the Bible and its interpretation propounded by the father become an important (although by no means blindly accepted) reference point in the process of the formation of the boy’s personality. Against the intentions of the father, François gradually moves away from biblical values. Does this process amount to a failure of the Bible itself, or just of the father’s educational undertakings? However it might be, the novels certainly constitutes a powerful warning against the rash, exalted biblical exegesis of the writer-father, which leads inexorably to emotional troubles in the boy and to a discrediting of biblical values in his eyes.
Keywords:
The Bible, father, son, intertextuality, Abraham’s sacrifice, St PaulReferences
Chauvin D., L’œuvre de William Blake. Apocalypse et transfiguration, Grenoble, 1992.
Genette G., Palimpsestes. La littérature au second degré, Paris, 1992.
Głowiński M., O intertekstualności, „Pamiętnik Literacki” 1986, Kraków, s. 75-100.
Frye N., La parole souveraine, Paris, 1994.
Frye N., Le Grand Code. Bible et la littérature, Paris, 1984.
Jelonek T., Biblia w kulturze świata, Kraków, 2007.
Jelonek, T., Biblijne pojęcie Sacrum, Kraków, 2008.
Jelonek T., Teologia biblijna, Kraków, 2011.
Jelonek T., Wprowadzenie do listów Świętego Pawła, Kraków, 1998.
Kasperski E., „Teoria i literatura w sytuacji ponowoczesności” w: E. Czaplewicz, E. Kasperski, Literatura i różnorodność; kresy i pogranicza, Warszawa, 1996;
Kristeva J., Semiotiké. Recherches pour une sémanalyse, Paris, 1969.
Langkammer H., Teologia biblijna Starego i Nowego Testamentu, Legnica, 2007.
Lejeune P., Wariacje na temat pewnego paktu. O Autobiografii, Kraków, 2007.
Léon-Dufour X., Słownik Teologii biblijnej, Poznań, 1994.
Miskolczi I., Les Œuvres de la non-Écriture. La métafiction vide dans les romans contemporains w: http://cief.elte.hu/sites/default/files/article_miskolczi_istvan.pdf (dostęp: 2//06/17).
Moschelhi R., La mise en abyme dans « Trois jours chez ma mère » de Weyergans et « Farag » de Radwa Achour w: http://horizonsaepf.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/5.pdf (dostęp: 2//06/17)
Paque J., François Weyergans, romancier, Bruxelles, 2005.
Piekarski I., Kod sztuki. O Biblii w Nortropa Frye’a wizji literatury w: http://rcin.org.pl/Content/57858/WA248_71480_P-I-2524_piekarski-kod_o.pdf.[dostęp :2//06/17].
Pismo Święte Starego i Nowego Testamentu, Biblia Tysiąclecia, red. nauk. A. Jankowski, tłum. Ksiąg W. Borowski, Poznań, 2009.
Robert L., François Weyergans, Le Pitre w: http://culture.ulg.ac.be/jcms/prod_285393/fr/francois-weyergans-le-pitre.(dostęp : 2//06/17).
Rodak P., Pismo książka lektura, Warszawa, 2009.
Sabaˇu A., François Weyergans et Kenzaburô Ôé - (perpé)tuer le père ou sauver le fils?, „Studia Universitatis Babeş-Bolyai”, Filologia nr 4, 2008, s. 140-147 w: http://studia.ubbcluj.ro/download/pdf/377.pdf (dostęp: 2//06/17).
Sabaˇu A., recenzja: Jeannine Paque, François Weyergans romancier, Bruxelles, Luce Wilquin, coll. « l’œuvre en lumière », 2005, 158 p. w: http://studia.ubbcluj.ro/download/pdf/377.pdf (dostęp: 2//06/17).
Sève A., Homilie niedzielne, Kraków, 1999.
Sosień B., Hipoteksty, teksty, mity, czyli o współistnieniu metod w : Intertekstualność i wyobraźniowość. Studia pod redakcją B. Sosień, Kraków, 2009.
Kaiser Walter C. Davids Peter H., Bruce F.F., Trudne fragmenty Biblii, Warszawa, 2011.
Weyergans F., Franz et François, Paris, 2007.
License
This is an open access journal.
Beginning with Issue 1/2024, all texts published under a Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 4.0 licence.
The texts in Issues from 3/2018 to 4/2023 are published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence.
For aricles till 2/2018 your use is permitted by an applicable exception or limitation – see: Ustawa z dnia 4 lutego 1994 r. o prawie autorskim i prawach pokrewnych.
