La part de la littérature dans l’expérience du mal : à propos de La Symbolique du mal

Abstract

The Role of Literature in the Experience of Evil: Concerning The Symbolism of Evil. This article attempts to show in what sense the role played by literature in The Symbolism of Evil does not seem to reach the height of the numerous references of the book susceptible of being read as literary. In mentioning the place occupied by Greek tragedy in the thinking of Paul Ricoeur, Cristina Henrique da Costa underlines a fundamental ambiguity concerning the status of the symbol in The Symbolism of Evil. In effect, because it responds to the rational exigency of thinking evil, the symbol, destined to be an experience of consciousness, nourishes itself however on a progressive abstraction from philosophical discourse. By better highlighting this ambiguity, the author proposes looking at the works of René Girard, Georges Bataille, and Gaston Bachelard who despite the distinct approaches of their way of responding to the exigencies of thinking evil, each refuse to sacrifice literary language to a sort of deforming rationalization of symbolic creativity.