Violence et sacré dans La Jongleuse de Rachilde

Abstract

This article proposes to decipher the motifs of violence, death and blood in Rachilde’s novel La Jongleuse (The Juggler) (1900) aiming to discern how they may be related to love, the sacred and art. In our reading, the two faces of the goddess of love, sometimes chthonic and cruel, sometimes celestial and indulgent, illustrates the ambivalent nature of Art. It also connotes the ambiguous nature of the Artist, torn between life and death, between formal restraint and the overflowing violence of creative impulses. Such ambivalence expresses itself in a burning passion, which transcends human limitations, and celebrates death and violence at the expense not only of a mediocre life but also of human life in general.