The sky is empty

the reconfiguration of the oracular function in contemporary literature

Abstract

This article proposes a symbolic reading of contemporary literature through the reconfiguration of the oracle figure. It argues that authors such as Sylvia Plath and Clarice Lispector construct, in their works, a language that, even in the face of the metaphysical silence of the world, insists on questioning and listening. The oracular function discussed here is not about predicting the future, but about creating an ethical and aesthetic space of listening before the unspeakable. Drawing on authors such as Jean-Pierre Vernant, Gilbert Durand, Emmanuel Levinas, Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht, and Roland Barthes, the article proposes that literature works as a space of symbolic resistance: it sustains the act of questioning when all traditional sources of response have vanished. Through close readings of excerpts from Plath’s The Journals, Lispector’s The Passion According to G.H. and The Hour of the Star, the analysis shows how writing can embrace the enigma without resolving it, establishing a silent presence that calls the reader to listen.