The mystical economy of Léon Bloy Radical social criticism and Catholicism in Le Sang du Pauvre

This article examines the question of economics and misery in Le Sang du Pauvre. Bloy diverges from every reactionary or progressive economist. The awareness of Sin leaves him incapable of adhering to an idealized image of the precapitalist economy. He refuses the commensurability of goods and evils, which makes their just distribution impossible. The question of misery becomes a scandal that is both unacceptable and insoluble, leading to messianic expectations.