Romancing the crucifixion in biblical rewritings by Phillip Pullman and Colm Tóibín

Q4 Arts and Humanities Ars Aeterna Pub Date : 2018-06-01 DOI:10.1515/aa-2018-0004

Ewa Rychter

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Abstract

Abstract This paper focuses on how the romance mode is used to re-narrativize the trauma of Jesus’s crucifixion in two contemporary biblical rewritings: Pullman’s The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ 2010 and Tóibín’s The Testament of Mary 2012. Reflecting on the process of the composition of the Bible, these novels resort to romance in order to invite a critical reflection on different narrativizations of the traumatic event, dependent as they are on both conservative and more subversive effects of romance. As some characters rely on the strategies of traditional spiritual romance in order to alleviate their pain, others cynically resort to a dualistic vision to establish and consolidate power, and still others make use of the excess and disarticulation of romance to do justice to the absolute horror of the event, the novels draw attention both to the comforting and subversive function of Christian scripture. Adding a metafictional dimension to the narrative of crucifixion, the novels expose the way in which religious scriptures can become ideological instruments, and signal the potentially dangerous effects of the renewed significance of religion today.

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菲利普·普尔曼和科尔姆·托宾在圣经改写中对十字架的浪漫化

摘要本文着重探讨在当代两部圣经改写作品中，浪漫主义模式是如何被用来重新叙述耶稣被钉十字架的创伤的：普尔曼的《好人耶稣与无赖基督》2010和托宾的《玛丽的遗嘱》2012。在反思《圣经》的创作过程时，这些小说诉诸浪漫主义，以期对创伤事件的不同叙事进行批判性反思，因为它们既依赖于浪漫主义的保守影响，也依赖于浪漫的颠覆性影响。由于一些角色依靠传统精神浪漫的策略来减轻他们的痛苦，另一些角色则玩世不恭地诉诸二元视角来建立和巩固权力，还有一些角色则利用浪漫的过度和脱节来公正地处理事件的绝对恐怖，这些小说引起了人们对基督教经文安慰和颠覆功能的关注。小说为受难的叙事增加了一个元虚构的维度，揭示了宗教经文成为意识形态工具的方式，并表明了当今宗教重新意义的潜在危险影响。

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Ars Aeterna Arts and Humanities-Literature and Literary Theory

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期刊介绍： The multidisciplinary journal focused on the questions of art and its importance in the contemporary world for the development of culture, mutual understanding, and the human Self.