„Czy baranek zjadł różę?” Próba biblijno-symbolicznej interpretacji „Małego Księcia” Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Abstract

In the modern mass culture literature, especially the one which requires serious consideration on the part of the reader, is getting more and more supplanted by an image and sound. Nowadays an average person is more inclined to spend many hours in front of a computer or TV screen rather than read a book. Yet, it seems that despite those civilization changes, the motives behind human activity remain unchanged: to find oneself in an artificially created world that has the features absent in the real world or those that are insufficiently available to us. A virtual world is an equivalent of an imaginary world of literature. However, while the reality created on the computer screen does not demand a considerable effort from its user to function in it, a written text, appealing to the world of a human thought, requires a creative involvement of the reader. The involvement of the reader is even greater in the case of a biblical text, which despite being a form of literature, exceeds the level of human imagination and creativity. A biblical text, due to its supernatural origins, brings us to a specific openness towards the reality, which in an infinite manner predominates not only over our everyday life but also over the most fantastic virtual worlds. Thus it is impossible to equate the Bible with any other literary work. Nevertheless, human language can contribute to creating images and stories which by referring to the biblical message will bring it closer to the mentality of the modern reader and will help him to discover the fascinating beauty of God’s word. It seems that having analysed the contents and the message of “The Little Prince”, one may assign such a function to this book. From this perspective, the work of the French writer is a peculiar preparatio Evangelii to all those who yearn for experiencing the Absolute in a more and more doubting society.