Ålevangeliet och Den gamle och havet : En komparativ analys om mötet mellan människan och havet

Sammanfattning

This master’s thesis examines, through a comparative analysis, The Gospel of the Eels by Patrik Svensson and The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, with particular focus on humanity’s relationship to creation, especially the sea and its organisms. The study employs a hermeneutical close reading with a text-centered approach in order to explore the existential questions raised in relation to the sea and what these questions may contribute to an understanding of humanity’s relation to nature. The analysis demonstrates that both works depict the sea as a space for existential reflection concerning meaning, mortality, dignity, stewardship, faith, and human responsibility toward other living beings. In The Old Man and the Sea, questions of power, worthiness, and human limitation are central in the relationship between Santiago and the marlin, while The Gospel of the Eels emphasizes mystery, interconnectedness, and humanity’s ethical responsibility toward creation. Svensson further explores the tension between scientific knowledge and faith through the enigmatic nature of the eel, where empirical understanding remains inseparable from belief and existential longing. The thesis argues that both works challenge anthropocentric perspectives by portraying humanity as deeply dependent upon and interconnected with creation. Through literary depictions of the sea, the novels open for reflections on stewardship, environmental responsibility, and the resacralization of nature within contemporary Systematic Theology.