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The Invisible Threshold: Two Plays by Gabriel Marcel Paperback – October 31, 2019

by Gabriel Marcel (Author), Brendan Sweetman (Editor), Geoffrey Karabin (Editor),

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French philosopher and dramatist, Gabriel Marcel (1888-1973), who belonged to the movement of French existentialism, is one of the most insightful thinkers of the twentieth century. Unlike some of his contemporaries who took existentialism in an atheistic, even nihilistic, direction, Marcel approaches human existence from a theistic perspective, and gives priority to the themes of hope, fidelity and faith in the human search for meaning in a challenging world. Author of seventeen major works of philosophy, Marcel also wrote more than thirty plays, including tragedies and comedies, many of which were staged in theaters in Paris, Germany, Belgium, England, Ireland and the United States. Marcel regarded dramatic art as having priority in both a chronological and an intellectual sense. His plays deal with challenging experiences and issues of contention that arise between people, especially families, in day-to-day life. Describing his own style as “post-Ibsen,” because it involves a sense of realism, depictions of passion and sincerity, and a sense of moral duty, Marcel’s plays rarely provide complete or settled answers to the difficulties they confront, but suggest possibilities both of interpretation and with regard to the choices on life’s journey. One of his aims is to allow audiences (and readers) not only to arrive at their own conclusions, but to feel the echo of the dramatic action in their own lives, and so provoke both insight and critical reflection on the dramas of existence. The plays in this new volume were written early in his career, and were published together under the title Le Seuil invisible (The Invisible Threshold) in 1913. The first play, Grace, explores the theme of religious conversion. The drama depicts a crisis between characters of genuine depth and sincerity, who are struggling with different interpretations of shared experiences. After a serious illness, Gerard, one of the main protagonists, undergoes a religious conversion, an experience which allows of two different and irreconcilable interpretations. The first is the interpretation of the scientific materialist; the second regards Gerard’s illness not as a cause but as an occasion to exercise the subject’s creative freedom. The play also raises the question of grace: the role that God may play in the choice of faith. Marcel asks us to consider the sincerity of our choices, and those attitudes and temptations that play a role in our motivations, in a profound dramatization of the experience of the religious as it emerges through challenging life situations. Similar themes are addressed but developed differently in the second play, The Sandcastle. Through the character of Moirans, this drama explores the confrontation between one’s beliefs and their consequences when faced with challenging family and social circumstances. The play asks us to think about what happens when our beliefs and theories, especially about religion, morality and politics, come up against situations in life that can test them. Marcel raises issues of moral character, commitment and sincerity, and introduces the role doubt plays in the way we form and hold our convictions. The springboard for the unfolding of the drama is Moirans’ egotism, and his growing realization of the difference between accepting Christianity in an intellectual and cultural sense, and a Christianity that is lived. This predicament then provokes his daughter, Clarisse, into some profound soul-searching of her own. Drama of this profundity offers audiences and readers a mirror that reflects their own problems, which leads to further awareness and understanding. Marcel’s dramatic works deal with the difficulties in acknowledging many of life’s most profound experiences, in reacting to them in an authentic way, and often illustrates our failures with regard to them. One of the major themes of both his dramatic and philosophical work is that life’s most profound, fulfilling experiences are being compromised more than ever in what he describes as the modern, broken world (le monde cassé), one unfortunately characterized by alienation, loss of meaning and feelings of despair. These new plays of Marcel’s, here translated into English for the first time, will appeal to all who are interested in the role of grace in everyday life, in the influence of culture on belief, the relationship between faith and reason, the choice of faith in a secular world, and the struggle between inauthentic and authentic existence. Marcel raises profound questions about these and related topics, but does not offer final answers. In his plays, he leaves that to us.

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Publisher ‏ : ‎ St. Augustines Press; 1st edition (October 31, 2019)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 208 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1587313898
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1587313899
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.7 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #3,198,466 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #4,821 in European Dramas & Plays
- #86,014 in Philosophy (Books)

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Brendan Sweetman

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DR BRENDAN SWEETMAN is a teacher, philosopher and writer. From Dublin, Ireland, he is Professor of Philosophy and holds the Sullivan Chair at Rockhurst University, Kansas City, Missouri, USA. He is the author or editor of sixteen books, including, most recently, THE CRISIS OF DEMOCRATIC PLURALISM (Palgrave MacMillan, 2021), as well as EVOLUTION, CHANCE AND GOD (Bloomsbury, 2015), RELIGION AND SCIENCE: AN INTRODUCTION (Continuum, 2010); THE VISION OF GABRIEL MARCEL (Brill, 2008); RELIGION: KEY CONCEPTS IN PHILOSOPHY (Continuum, 2007); WHY POLITICS NEEDS RELIGION: THE PLACE OF RELIGIOUS ARGUMENTS IN THE PUBLIC SQUARE (InterVarsity, 2006); CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES ON RELIGIOUS EPISTEMOLOGY (Oxford U.P., 1992); A GABRIEL MARCEL READER (St. Augustine's Press, 2011), and PHILOSOPHICAL THINKING AND THE RELIGIOUS CONTEXT (Bloomsbury, 2013). He was a consulting editor for the NEW CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA SUPPLEMENT: ETHICS AND PHILOSOPHY (Gale, 2013, 4 Vols.). Professor Sweetman has published more than one hundred articles and critical reviews in a variety of journals, collections, and reference works, including the INTERNATIONAL PHILOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY, AMERICAN CATHOLIC PHILOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY, FAITH AND PHILOSOPHY, PHILOSOPHIA CHRISTI, PHILOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY, REVIEW OF METAPHYSICS, AMERICAN NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY, ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, and the STANFORD ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PHILOSOPHY. He has been a Visiting Scholar and Keynote Speaker at several universities and colleges in the U.S., and, internationally, has given lectures in many countries. He is an elected fellow of the INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR SCIENCE AND RELIGION. A member of the American Philosophical Association, the American Catholic Philosophical Association, and the Society of Christian Philosophers, Dr Sweetman is the current President of the Gabriel Marcel Society, and the editor of MARCEL STUDIES. His books and articles have been translated into several languages. including Spanish, Italian and Portuguese.

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