Pascal’sFragments d’un discours amoureux

Abstract

In this article, Pascal’s Ecrits sur la Grâce is considered from an unusual angle. Using Barthes’s Fragments d’un discours amoureux as an intertext, it is argued that the Ecrits, seemingly so intractable and impersonal, is Pascal’s most deeply personal work, to be read on both theological and existential levels. Through the writings of Donald Winnicott, which feature prominentl­y in the Barthes text, the crucial role played by abandonment (delaissement) is explored in the Ecrits and in other Pascalian works.