The Confessions in Praise of Dialogue

Abstract

This paper is the first part of a study that pro- poses to read the Confessions as a dialogue, in content and in form. An intended (and failed) dialogue with God, and also a dialogue according to its form of composition. The general prologue of the work will be presented as a place to formulate theoretical impasses, which unifies the research developed in the thirteen books as a whole. In the prologue, the elaboration of the impasses depends on the use and criticism of consecrated models. By manipulating and distancing himself from rhetorical and religious models, the Author transforms his seemingly traditional inaugural prayer in an exordium to a dialogue still not constituted. There he will offer an alternative, with guidelines whose realization will depend on the autobiographical and exegetical sections of the work.