Church, Communication and Culture (Jan 2020)
G.K. Chesterton’s Manalive: narrative, grace and humanity
Abstract
The article proposes the thesis that Manalive metaphorically represents the apocalypse because Innocent Smith can be read as a symbol of the desire to meet the Risen One inscribed in the heart of every man. The two parts of the novel are therefore analyzed, first of all highlighting the eschatological traits that characterize the arrival of the protagonist, carried by the wind, and the effect that this produces on the present, and then describing the progress of Innocent as a victory over the fundamental temptations of man, in parallel to what happened to Christ in the desert. The method combines literary analysis and theological reading, according to an epistemology of paradox that seems consistent with the intentio auctoris of Chesterton himself.
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