Violence and the Sacred in the Fiction of Julia Kristeva
Abstract
This article examines the relatively neglected fiction of Julia Kristeva, especially her 'gothic roman noir' The Old Man and the Wolves , in relation to her theories of violence and abjection. It focuses on the various kinds of excitement and anxiety provoked by notions of border-crossing and metamorphosis in her fiction, and explores her critique of the banality of secular modernity and her nostalgic evocations of sacred space. I also discuss the paradox of her problematic use of detective fiction—a direct product of secular modernity—as a vehicle for this critique.