Practice question · Multiple choice
Augustine writes the Confessions directly to an omniscient God rather than to human readers. What literary consequence follows from this specific choice of addressee?
Hints
- If your reader already knows every fact of your life, what rhetorical posturing becomes useless?
- Why does speaking directly to an omniscient deity alter how an author handles their own moral failings?
Show the answer
D. The text can abandon defensive self-justification
Why
Writing to an addressee who already knows everything removes any incentive for self-flattery or deception. Treating the final books as detached essays misses how the address sustains the whole work, while expecting an external human judge reverses Augustine's stance.
Practise Augustine’s Confessions: the Invention of Interiority
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More questions on Augustine’s Confessions: the Invention of Interiority
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