Citation

Pivert B. Etudes Germaniques 2011; 66(3): 697-716.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011)

DOI

10.3917/eger.263.0697

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Gabriele Wohmann who was born in 1932 in Darmstadt (Germany) as a pastor's daughter belongs to the few writers in contemporary literature for whom God is still a subject. Paradoxically, G. Wohmann's oeuvre which started out in 1957 is a rather somber work in which existential boredom challenges faith. An inevitable question occurs when reading G. Wohmann's work: is there not a relationship between the boredom the characters suffer from and acedia, the boredom of the Christian in front of the world that so many authors have depicted since the Middle Ages. In order to answer this question we traced the concept back to the first theological writings about acedia. Then we examined the definition of acedia in modern theology. The affinity between G. Wohmann's work and the writings of modern theologians is obvious. However, G. Wohmann's voice remains unique since it is the only one which proclaims that God does not object suicide.

Language: fr