Trembling in Time: Silence and Meaning between Barthes, Chateaubriand, and Rancé
Trembling in Time: Silence and Meaning between Barthes, Chateaubriand, and Rancé
This chapter traces relations between Barthes's “La voyageuse de nuit” (1965), the object of this essay: Chateaubriand's Vie de Rancé (1844), and Chateaubriand's biographical protagonist, the seventeenth-century Cistercian Armand-Jean de Rancé. The chapter describes each figure's authorial project in its Sitz im Leben with particular focus on two motifs which are of concern for all three. Firstly, ways in which a particular mindset or ethos may transcend particular historical contexts and create connections across time, making the past relevant for the present: respectively the literary exploration of existence (Barthes), the creative power of the Christian tradition (Chateaubriand), and the salvational benefits of monastic asceticism (Rancé). Secondly, the role of silence for the understanding of existence – whether as a tool in a world-forsaking penitence or as an opening towards deeper meaning.
Keywords: Barthes, Chateaubriand, Rancé, tradition, hermeneutics, monasticism, silence, literary topoi
Fordham Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs , and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us .
