The theme of Faith in F. Mauriac’s Works

The article addresses the theme, or rather the problem of faith in the works of a prominent French writer of the 20th century, Nobel Prize winner and a foremost representative of the French Catholic Revival F. Mauriac. Analysis of the religious aspect of the writer’s novels grants us the possibility to conclude that the essential part of his worldview is the Catholic faith, which is reflected in the Nobel Prize winner’s works in a complex and even problematic form. Mauriac’s own searches in this field constitute an important reason to consider the faith theme. It is important to remember that his attitude to faith and its corresponding reflection in his works differ from the attitudes of his contemporaries. Mauriac’s works lack didacticism. An important feature of them is the mode in which Mauriac treats the problems of “lost creatures”, the depiction of which his whole literary career is dedicated to. He does not use moral discourses and does not try to force his reader to agree with him. He instead feels sorry that the reader cannot recognize the means of overcoming senselessness, which most people are eager to fill with much useless effort. Another peculiarity of Mauriac’s works is the morose atmosphere, even though it does not seem to correspond to Christian faith in the kind Father, which brings harmony. The novelist explains this phenomenon with the factor of necessity reflecting the truth of life. He therefore thinks that his duty is to depict life in the way he sees it around himself. The fact that a person has a free will causes the presence of a different basis for relations among people in Mauriac’s creations. Therefore, one can find in them intersubjectivity grounded both on the principles of Christian love and opposing ones – power, violence, and compulsion. The other feature of faith in the author’s understanding is that it is not only emotional but also intellectual. For the novelist, highly intellectual faith is of little effect as is totally emotional faith, which can be seen in his works and in his characters. The path of a person towards living, rather than ritualized and hypocritical faith, is a central motive in Mauriac’s novels. This route, not an easy one for the heroes of these works, indicates a search for the sense of being and truth.