Summary
The Confessions is the first autobiography
in Western literature, but Augustine meant it to be far more than
simply an account of his life. He wrote it during the first three
years of his tenure as bishop of Hippo. The word confessions in
the title implies not only that the narrative will reveal intimate
facts about the author but also that it will be guided by a spirit
of remorse and the praise of God.
In book I, Augustine describes his early years, from his
childhood to the age of fifteen. He admits that as a teenager he
preferred hedonism to studying. In book II he speaks of his early
pursuit of sexual pleasure. Around the age of sixteen, he gave up
studying, chased women, and even became a thief. He moves through
three years in book III, to the age of nineteen, when he lives in
Carthage. He’s still chasing women, but he has also discovered the
Manichean cult. Over the nine years of book IV, he finishes his
studies and becomes a published author; one of his publications
is a book on Aristotle. In book V, Augustine is twenty-nine years
old. He has given up on the Manicheans and his mistress, and he
is in Rome, where he has found friendship with Bishop Ambrose. In
books VI and VII he describes his spiritual journey, during which
he seeks personal happiness. He also considers the nature of evil.
He understands God but does not understand Jesus Christ.
In book VIII, Augustine describes his conversion to Christianity. By
book IX he is thinking about giving up teaching, and tragedy strikes.
Two of his close friends die, followed by the death of his mother,
Monica. In book X, he meditates on what will lead him to God and
bring happiness in his life. In book XI, he begins to study the
Bible in earnest, which allows him to talk about the nature of time.
Book XII contains a detailed examination of the first chapter of
the book of Genesis, through which he outlines his view of matter. Finally,
in book XIII he explains the goodness of God when he created all
things. Augustine then reads the first chapter of Genesis in an
allegorical manner, and he states that God works to bring happiness
to those who are holy.
Analysis
Scholars generally accept that the idea of autobiography
begins with the letters of Saint Paul in the New Testament. However,
Augustine in his Confessions takes this idea and
expands it into an entire genre that critically inquires what it
means to be a person. In other words, he explores the idea of the
self until he discovers personal subjectivity. As Augustine constructs
a view of God that would come to dominate Western thinking, he also
creates a new concept of individual identity: the idea of the self.
This identity is achieved through a twofold process: self-presentation,
which leads to self-realization. Augustine creates a literary character
out of the self and places it in a narrative text so that it becomes
part of the grand allegory of redemption. In The Confessions,
Augustine plays the lead role in the story of his own life. By telling
this tale he transforms himself into a metaphor of the struggle
of both body and soul to find happiness, which exists only in God’s
love. He reads his life as an allegory to arrive at a larger truth.
All autobiography needs an audience, and Augustine’s audience is
not his readers, but God. This is an interesting, and highly informative,
process: Augustine transforms himself into a literary character
to present himself to God. By doing so, Augustine juxtaposes eternity
with the transient, the all-powerful with the weak, and the Creator
with the created. This union may seem unequal, but Augustine presents
it to teach a very pertinent lesson: only in the presence of the
Omnipotent and the Omniscient can the self attain happiness and
completeness. The Confessions is a work of prayer
and repentance as well as praise.
One of the most important and powerful passages of The
Confessions relates the journey of the self toward wholeness.
The scene, which occurs in book VIII, occurs in the garden of Augustine’s house
in Milan, in July 386. Augustine was in poor health and felt his
life was going nowhere. He no longer wanted to teach and wanted
to abandon all his worldly ambitions of securing a glorious career.
Throughout Confessions, Augustine is torn between
two opposing forces, sexual desire and spiritual desire, and he
confronts the conflict here one final time. Augustine is writing
from a distance of fourteen years, and he clearly casts the struggle
in Neoplatonic terms, where to be truly free one must choose the
interior world of the soul and abandon the distractions of the senses.
In his Milan garden, Augustine came to a decision that would forever
end this struggle.
