Deakin University
Browse

File(s) under permanent embargo

Meursault (and Caligula) avec de sade: on the relations between the literary absurds and Camus’s philosophical discourses

Version 2 2024-06-17, 11:58
Version 1 2014-11-27, 19:05
journal contribution
posted on 2024-06-17, 11:58 authored by MJ Sharpe
This article considers the relation between L'Etranger and Caligula, with Camus' philosophical discourse. It aims at mediocra firma between the idea that the literary 'absurds' just illustrate Camus' philosophy; and the idea that they are wholly autonomous from that philosophy. Following threads from Camus' own responses to Melville, du Gard and others, we argue that Meursault and the crazed emperor Caligula are not illustrations of the absurd, let alone Camusian ethical ideals. They embody 'temptations' to forms of philosophical suicide and murder Camus systematically opposed in his philosophical writings, whose paradigm in The Rebel is the Marquis de Sade. Rather than rebelling against the unjust irrationality of the world, these figures (either passively or actively) become agents of this irrationality. Camus the man, or his thinking, should not be identified with them, as such, any more than Shakespeare should be identified with his Iago, or sundry other villains.

History

Journal

Journal of Camus Studies

Volume

2014

Article number

7

Pagination

117-144

Language

English

Publication classification

C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2014, Albert Camus Society

Publisher

Albert Camus Society

Usage metrics

    Research Publications

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC