Silence, Secrecy and Sacredness in Hardy’s Fiction
For Hardy the professed agnostic, silence may correspond to the absence of speech or of divine signs. In that case, the connection between silence and the sacred might not seem obvious at first sight.Yet though silence, which is highly significant in each Hardy novel, constitutes on many occasions a...
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| الحاوية / القاعدة: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/fathom, |
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| المؤلف الرئيسي: | |
| التنسيق: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| اللغة: | Anglais |
| منشور في: |
FATHOM
2013
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| الموضوعات: | |
| الوصول للمادة أونلاين: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
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openedition-oai:revues.org:fathom_358 |
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openedition |
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openedition-oai:revues.org:fathom_358 https://doi.org/10.4000/fathom.358 urn:doi:10.4000/fathom.358 en https://journals.openedition.org/fathom/358 2013-07-21T02:00:00Z info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess article info:eu-repo/semantics/article urn:handle:20.500.13089/gahk All rights reserved Silence, Secrecy and Sacredness in Hardy’s Fiction FATHOM Association française sur les études sur Thomas Hardy info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/2270-6798 URI:https://journals.openedition.org/fathom Lemardelé, Gildas roman Bible religion silence sacré secret séculier mort novel silence Bible religion sacred secret secular death For Hardy the professed agnostic, silence may correspond to the absence of speech or of divine signs. In that case, the connection between silence and the sacred might not seem obvious at first sight.Yet though silence, which is highly significant in each Hardy novel, constitutes on many occasions an abyssal or labyrinthic void, it also appears as a coherent and constructive interval. Silence and the secrets it harbours sometimes play an essential part in the organic structure of the novel, connecting the different parts of the narrative into a consistent whole. In such silent interstices one may sometimes find the presence of sacred or highly religious elements as well as the sense of a perfect epistemological order. This is often carried forth by the presence of death, a systematic concern of Hardy’s. The episode around Fanny’s coffin in Far from the Madding Crowd and the baptismal rite in Tess thus both illustrate that interconnection between silence, secrecy, and sacredness.The article aims at examining the links between the three notions and at understanding how the sacredness depicted by Hardy is not of a strictly religious or theological sort, but is rather paradoxically rooted in the human and the secular. Pour Hardy, agnostique déclaré, le silence peut renvoyer à l’absence de parole ou de signes divins. Dans ces conditions, l’articulation entre silence et sacré n’apparaît pas d’emblée comme évidente.Pourtant, bien que le silence, prégnant dans chacun des romans, se fasse en maintes occasions espace abyssal ou béance labyrinthique, il s’offre aussi comme intervalle dans lequel la cohérence s’établit et se construit. Le silence, et les secrets qu’il abrite, tient parfois un rôle essentiel dans l’édifice romanesque, puisqu’il assure le lien entre les parties constitutives du récit. Dans ces interstices silencieux s’affirment parfois la présence d’un contenu sacré ou en apparence éminemment religieux, et la perfection d’un ordre épistémologique, notamment par le biais de la mort, qui occupe le romancier de manière systématique. On en voit des exemples dans l’épisode du cercueil de Fanny dans Far from the Madding Crowd, ou dans le rite baptismal de Tess, où coïncident silence, secret et sacré.Cette étude propose donc d’explorer les liens qui unissent ces trois notions et de voir en quoi cette forme de sacré décrite par Hardy n’est pas strictement religieuse ou théologique, mais, paradoxalement, est plutôt ancrée dans l’humain et le séculier. |
| collection |
OpenEdition Journal |
| language |
Anglais |
| format |
Article ou chapitre numérique |
| building |
0/Bibliothèque numérique/ 1/Bibliothèque numérique/OpenEdition Journals/ |
| topic |
roman Bible religion silence sacré secret séculier mort novel silence Bible religion sacred secret secular death |
| spellingShingle |
roman Bible religion silence sacré secret séculier mort novel silence Bible religion sacred secret secular death Lemardelé, Gildas Silence, Secrecy and Sacredness in Hardy’s Fiction |
| description |
For Hardy the professed agnostic, silence may correspond to the absence of speech or of divine signs. In that case, the connection between silence and the sacred might not seem obvious at first sight.Yet though silence, which is highly significant in each Hardy novel, constitutes on many occasions an abyssal or labyrinthic void, it also appears as a coherent and constructive interval. Silence and the secrets it harbours sometimes play an essential part in the organic structure of the novel, connecting the different parts of the narrative into a consistent whole. In such silent interstices one may sometimes find the presence of sacred or highly religious elements as well as the sense of a perfect epistemological order. This is often carried forth by the presence of death, a systematic concern of Hardy’s. The episode around Fanny’s coffin in Far from the Madding Crowd and the baptismal rite in Tess thus both illustrate that interconnection between silence, secrecy, and sacredness.The article aims at examining the links between the three notions and at understanding how the sacredness depicted by Hardy is not of a strictly religious or theological sort, but is rather paradoxically rooted in the human and the secular. |
| author |
Lemardelé, Gildas |
| author_facet |
Lemardelé, Gildas |
| author_sort |
Lemardelé, Gildas |
| title |
Silence, Secrecy and Sacredness in Hardy’s Fiction |
| title_short |
Silence, Secrecy and Sacredness in Hardy’s Fiction |
| title_full |
Silence, Secrecy and Sacredness in Hardy’s Fiction |
| title_fullStr |
Silence, Secrecy and Sacredness in Hardy’s Fiction |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Silence, Secrecy and Sacredness in Hardy’s Fiction |
| title_sort |
silence, secrecy and sacredness in hardy’s fiction |
| publisher |
FATHOM |
| publishDate |
2013 |
| container_title |
URI:https://journals.openedition.org/fathom |
| url |
https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://doi.org/10.4000/fathom.358 https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://journals.openedition.org/fathom/358 |
| _version_ |
1877243502615592960 |