Pensées orientale et occidentale: influences et complémentarité II
THE ANTITHESES IN THE “DREAMS” OF MARIAM, THE LITTLE ARAB (1846–1878) Antitheses as a thought figure are characteristic for mystical discourse. First, the panorama of aspects linked to the antithesis and the Catholic mystical discourse are presented. Then, the analyses of the antitheses drawn from the mystical discourse of the “little Arab” are crried out on the examples of the image of the cloud and the image of a cloud and a tree. In the first case, this figure is characterized by dissymmetric predicates (intensified and varied on the negative pole) performing the prophetic and warning function. In the second case, the antitheses – performing the educational function and offering moral and spiritual teaching – are very varied and are connected by logical links between the different elements of the images.