PHILOSOPHICAL BASES OF SYLVIE GERMAIN'S WORK (ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL AND ALLEGORICAL NOVEL “THE MEDUSA CHILD”)

Abstract

This article examines the work of the French writer S. Germain from the point of the presence of a genre modification of a philosophical and allegorical novel. The creative style of the novelist is greatly influenced by E. Levinas’ philosophy. According to E. Levinas, the beginning of human existence is connected with the emergence of the relationship of one person to Another. S. Germain’s philosophical and allegorical prose focuses on the original source of the problems of evil. This results in the possibility or impossibility of transforming an infinite form of existence. In other words, the author asks a question whether a person who is cruel by nature, who seeks domination and submission, is able to recognize his moral decline and take the right path in the name of the Other. The writer recognizes that the human world of the twentieth century, as never before, is extremely harsh and violent. Therefore if the immorality dominates, is there any chance of reaching a higher ground? S. Germain is trying to give an answer to this question by focusing on the main heroes-victims, who are showing the path to God or other higher powers. In the novel by S. Germain “The Medusa Child” a conflict unfolds between the violent form of being in the state of the Other and the suffering of an innocent child. The main character, a teenager Lucy Dobigne, is forced into adult life after being raped by her stepbrother Ferdinand. Lucy lives in her fictional world, where reality is intertwined with fairy tale and myth. The uncertainty that surrounds Lucy invades her fantasy world, as she seeks to unite Others in order to protect herself from the threat that Ferdinand represents. S. Germain follows Levinas’ ideas that humanity was not created by the individualistic “being” and therefore it is not the basis for studying the relations between the components of the whole world.