La conversion de Durtal dans La Cathédrale, carrefour de métamorphoses sociales, spirituelles et sémantiques

The present paper explores Durtal’s conversion as the refusal of any fixed reference. The reflections of the hero on his personal experience, but also on the social transformations are characterised by the metaphysical seriousness and semantic experiments. The constant lexical substitution arouses the curiosity of the reader: its referential opacity is only apparent. Thus, the writer emphasizes that going beyond the beaten path requires a new mode of expression where meaning no longer depends on the rehashing of commonplaces, but relies on semantic mismatches and prolonged tensions between juxtaposed terms. Likewise, social transformations strongly disapproved of by the hero become the source of paradoxical reasoning where truth is expressed through the negativity of judgment. Nevertheless, despite the lucidity of his social and ethical judgments, Durtal remains blind to the imperfection of his own conversion. Moreover, the frequent recourse to paradox demonstrates that the protagonist is still in doubt which announce a long spiritual path of true conversion.