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In a striking essay, Jean Seznec could show in how far the almost surrealist character of Flaubertʼs La Tentation de saint Antoine is grounded on scientific readings such as the Symbolism by Friedrich Creuzer. The French translation of this work, the Religions de l'antiquité, considérées princi...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Joséphine Alida Jacquier
Format: Article
Language:fra
Published: Institut des Textes & Manuscrits Modernes (ITEM) 2010-12-01
Series:Flaubert: Revue Critique et Génétique
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Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/flaubert/1220
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Summary:In a striking essay, Jean Seznec could show in how far the almost surrealist character of Flaubertʼs La Tentation de saint Antoine is grounded on scientific readings such as the Symbolism by Friedrich Creuzer. The French translation of this work, the Religions de l'antiquité, considérées principalement dans leurs formes symboliques et mythologiques, was provided by Joseph-Daniel Guigniaut. Based on the observations of Seznec, Foucault formulated his conception of the « fantastique singulièrement moderne ». But does the affinity between the texts of Creuzer and Flaubert purely consist of textual copies?The following essay should show that it is the symbolical way of thinking that connects the science of the great German mythologist and the puzzling text of Flaubert. The characteristics that according to Creuzer constitute the symbol – suddenness, appearance and clarity – structure not only Flaubertʼs descriptions of hallucinations and artistic visions, but also reveal themselves as essential elements of the epiphanean défilé of the gods. The dissecting character of science and the symbolical way of thinking form the hybrid structure of the Tentation. The illusory of the text continuously progressing by the creation of new symbolical and hallucinated spaces, contains, due to scientific references, its own dissolution.
ISSN:1969-6191