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The Invisible Threshold: Two Plays by Gabriel Marcel by Gabriel Marcel

2020; Philosophy Education Society Inc.; Volume: 74; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/rvm.2020.0068

2154-1302

James Woelfel,

Augustinian Studies and Theology

Reviewed by: The Invisible Threshold: Two Plays by Gabriel Marcel by Gabriel Marcel James Woelfel MARCEL, Gabriel. The Invisible Threshold: Two Plays by Gabriel Marcel. Edited by Brendan Sweetman, Maria Traub, and Geoffrey Karabin. Translated by Maria Traub. South Bend, Indiana: St. Augustine's Press, 2019. 265 pp. Paper, $19.00 The two plays in this volume are among Marcel's earliest published writings: Grace(La Grâce), written in 1910–11, and The Sandcastle (La Palais de sable) in 1913. They were published together in 1914 under the title The Invisible Threshold (Le Seuil invisible). Brendan Sweetman provides an illuminating introduction to Marcel's philosophy and the integral role his dramas play in articulating his ideas, followed by Marcel's 1914 preface to The Invisible Threshold. Insightful new essays guide the reader: on Grace by Maria Traub, and on The Sandcastle by Geoffrey Karabin. Marcel wrote over thirty plays, many of which have been performed on both European and American stages. For Marcel playwriting was an essential expression of his approach to philosophy. As Sweetman observes, "In theater, Marcel believed that one could recreate through the medium of art profound human experiences close to the way in which they actually occur in human life." Marcel is considered one of the French existentialists, for whom the personal and interpersonal experiences of individual humans are at the core of philosophy. Central to his version of existentialist philosophy is his distinction between "problems" and "mysteries." Problems are puzzles that can be figured out with objective methods and universal answers. By contrast, according to Sweetman, a mystery is "a realm where the distinction between the concept and the object it wishes to capture breaks down . . . [a realm that] includes ordinary concrete human situations that involve experiences of love, hope, fidelity and faith, . . . which are defining for human beings." In his preface Marcel calls the two plays "dramas of ideas" embodying a "tragedy of thought"—"a completely different kind of tragedy . . . in which the perception of great truths and great problems plays a decisive role." In drama these perceptions of the fundamental issues of life "take place in real settings quite similar to ours," in which some of the characters are able, "not to analyze precisely, but to notice and to condense in an intuition" essential mysteries of human experience. An important theme in tragedy is conflict, and in the two plays the conflict is played out between two characters who are very close but have profoundly different perspectives and sensibilities regarding the meaning of life and their relationship to each other. [End Page 157] The two plays also reveal Marcel's early preoccupation with religious issues. For Marcel the human experience of mystery clearly opens out onto the religious dimension of existence. Interested in religious experience and theological and moral issues from the beginning of his writing career, Marcel nevertheless did not formally convert to Catholicism until 1929. However, we see from Grace and The Sandcastle that as early as 1911–14 he was centrally concerned to portray real-life conflicts—both interior and interpersonal—over claims about the experiences of grace and of religious calling. He sought to be evenhanded in presenting these conflicts and to leave their resolution up to the audience, but he also wrote that the two dramas are "for religious spirits and for them alone." In Grace the conflict is between Frances and Gerard, both in their twenties. Frances, a student of the reductionist psychology of the day and also the author of a "scandalous" play, sees herself as a strongly independent woman, who believes that love between a woman and a man must be a based on a passionate sexual attraction and relationship. She is physically attracted to Gerard and wants to marry him, believing he feels the same way. Gerard has led a worldly life including casual affairs with other women, but now he has been diagnosed with tuberculosis and become increasingly absorbed in cultivating the spiritual life and being open to the workings of grace. He loves Frances for her purity. She commits herself to caring for him and they marry, but neither understands what the other has really wanted until Gerard's health has...