Epiphany at Hallow Eve - Epiphanie la veille de la Toussaint

It seems inappropriate to talk about January in October, or rather of the 6th of January on the 31st of October...
One (literary) reason explains it : James Joyce.
In the collection of short stories entitled Dubliners, one of them deals with Hallowe'en in a very particular way. Everything is perceived in the mind and through the eyes of a maid named Maria, whose name recalls the biblical Mary who received the Revelation, pending the real Epiphany.
The reader follows Maria in her daily routine until the disastrous Hallowe'en party. The narrating technique (free indirect speech) is diabolical: it leads us to assume that what she thinks is the actual truth, that people like her and respect her. She makes mistakes and lapses and in the climactic scene, the family plays a game in which she is blindfolded. She gets ridiculed ... but she is not aware of it.
The epiphany comes from the fact that suddenly the reader understands what is going on. It is both disturbing and disconcerting, all the more so since one realises something else: are we all Marias? Are we living, so to speak, blindfolded?


Il semble impropre de parler d'Epiphanie pour Halloween.
Une raison (litteraire) le justifie: James Joyce.
Dans le recueil de nouvelles Gens de Dublin, "Argile" traite Halloween d'une maniere particuliere. Tout est percu par l'esprit et le regard de la servant Maria, dont le nom rappelle la Marie biblique qui recut la Revelation, en attendant la veritable Epiphanie. Le lecteur suit Maria dans sa routine quotidienne jusqu'au desastre de la fete d'Halloween. La technique narrative (style indirect libre) est diabolique: elle nous laisse croire que ce qu'elle pense est la verite, que les gens l'aiment bien et la respectent. Elle commet des erreurs et des faux-pas et dans la scene finale, la famille joue a colin-maillard, Maria a les yeux bandes. Elle est ridiculisee ... sans en avoir conscience.
L'epiphanie vient du fait que soudain le lecteur comprend ce qui se passe. C'est perturbant et deconcertant en meme temps, d'autant plus l'on se rend compte d'autre chose: sommes-nous tous des Maria? Vivons-nous, pour ainsi dire, les yeux bandes?