Le «rite de passage» chez Amin Maalouf

This study attempts to analyze the inner development of Tanios, protagonist of Amin Maalouf's novel,The Rock of Tanios, by interpreting the important symbols which punctuate the spiritual metamorphosis of the main character and associates it to an initiatory experience. What is noteworthy is that the author describes his character's "entire life" as "nothing but a succession of passages" and divides the narrative structure of the novel into nine "passages" each of which corresponds to a crucial stage in Tanios' existential initiation and physical transformation. Even the symbolic significance of the number "nine" will shed an interesting light on the protagonist's mystical quest which modifies profoundly his interiority. This quest resembles an initiation marked by trials, suffering and deprivations which purify the soul and predispose it to a renaissance, final stage of the initiation. This study will proceed by a sustained observation of Tanios' physical and mental changes in order to highlight and decipher the symbolic manifestations of the passages which accentuate his life. By adopting this initiatory process, Maalouf manages to enrich his character with an elaborate human destiny.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]