Apocalypse According to the Literary Vision of Michael D. O’Brien

Mirosława Ołdakowska-Kuflowa

doi:10.21697/ct.2023.93.2.05

Published: 2023-05-24

Vol. 93 No. 2 (2023)

Apocalypse According to the Literary Vision of Michael D. O’Brien

Mirosława Ołdakowska-Kuflowa

Collectanea Theologica

Section: Articles

https://doi.org/10.21697/ct.2023.93.2.05

Abstract

The article focuses on Michael D. O’Brien’s novel trilogy consisting of Father Elijah: An Apocalypse, Sophia House and Elijah in Jerusalem, inspired by the biblical books, particularly the Book of Revelation. The analytical-interpretive and comparative method applied in the article reveal the scope and purpose of parallelism used by the author in relation to biblical characters, events and situations. This parallelism has been introduced in contemporary novels set in the twentieth century, especially at the dawn of the twenty-first century. Biblical references, plots, allusions and, above all, the biblical vision of the world and humans become a gauge that allows diagnosing modern reality and the rapid changes that occur in it. The recognition and full understanding of ideas included in the work are possible only after reading the biblical content inscribed in the novel. It forms the basis of the assessment of a model of the world in which spiritual reality permeates the visible realm, with a simultaneous occurrence of psychomachy. From this perspective, the warning that the writer addresses to his contemporaries becomes apparent.

Keywords:

Michael D. O'Brien, contemporary novel, biblical inspiration, book of Revelation, diagnosis of modernity

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Ołdakowska-Kuflowa, M. (2023). Apocalypse According to the Literary Vision of Michael D. O’Brien. Collectanea Theologica, 93(2), 139–162. https://doi.org/10.21697/ct.2023.93.2.05

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