“Beatific Horror, Wretched Bliss”
The Antenomian Gnosis of Susan Taubes and Clarice Lispector
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22423481 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Agata Bielik‐robson (0000-0002-9638-6758, University of Nottingham, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-29 |
| Publication date | 2026-07-10 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Political Theology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1462-317X • E-ISSN: 1743-1719 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/1462317x.2026.2658930 |
| OpenAlex | W7168018212 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 11 |
Susan Taubes was often juxtaposed with thinkers of a similar Gnostic sensibility: Simone Weil, Martin Heidegger, and her husband, Jacob Taubes. There is, however, another figure who could be compared to Susan Taubes: Clarice Lispector, a Brazilian thinker-novelist of a Jewish East-European origin. In my essay, I attempt to show that they both share a peculiar, perhaps uniquely feminine, type of Gnosticism that reacts to “the exclusion of women.” The Gnostic narrative of the radically alienated self that feels thrown into existence and lacks a sense of meaningful initiation speaks to both of them as a natural idiom to describe the situation of a woman who was denied a proper place within the symbolic order of tradition, devised and controlled by men.
Gnosticism · Judaism · Narrative · Natural (archaeology) · Order (exchange) · The Symbolic · Borges, Kipling, and Jewish Identity · Diverse academic research themes · Philosophy and Literary Analysis
| Highly cited | No |
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