‘Abîme Inconnus’: Raïssa Maritain’s Poetic and Mystical Gifts

Raïssa Maritain is one of the most compelling Catholic poets of the twentieth century, and yet her work is largely overlooked by literary critics. This short essay explores her mystical reading of darkness as a place of spiritual discernment, intuition, and kenosis and the poetic night vision she de...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Mason, Emma (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Interlibrary Loan:Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany)
Published: 2026
In: New blackfriars
Year: 2026, Volume: 107, Issue: 2, Pages: 195-201
Further subjects:B Contemplation
B Raïssa Maritain
B Catholic Modernism
B poetry and mysticism
B War
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Summary:Raïssa Maritain is one of the most compelling Catholic poets of the twentieth century, and yet her work is largely overlooked by literary critics. This short essay explores her mystical reading of darkness as a place of spiritual discernment, intuition, and kenosis and the poetic night vision she developed to negotiate it. The essay reads her as a fire-thief intent on stealing from poetry a light able to illuminate God’s dazzling darkness and the ruinous gloom of war.
ISSN:1741-2005
Contains:Enthalten in: New blackfriars
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1017/nbf.2026.10138