Albert Camus's Mediterraneanism in <I>La Peste</I>

City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 9-2017 Albert Camus's Mediterraneanism in La Peste Jacquelyn Libby The Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/2411 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] Albert Camus’s Mediterraneanism in La Peste by Jacquelyn Libby A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in French in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2017 Jacquelyn Libby ii Doctoral Thesis © 2017 Jacquelyn Libby All Rights Reserved Jacquelyn Libby iii Doctoral Thesis Albert Camus’s Mediterraneanism in La Peste by Jacquelyn Emma Libby This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in French in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. September 7th, 2017 Peter Consenstein Chair of Examining Committee September 7th, 2017 Francesca Canadé Sautman Executive Officer Supervisory Committee Peter Consenstein Ali Nematollahy Jason Herbeck THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK Jacquelyn Libby iv Doctoral Thesis ABSTRACT Albert Camus’s Mediterraneanism in La Peste by Jacquelyn Libby Advisor: Professor Peter Consenstein The following dissertation uses the speech Camus gave at the inauguration of a new community arts center in Algiers in 1937, entitled “La Culture Indigène. La Nouvelle Culture Méditerranéenne,” to show that this expression of Mediterraneanism, as well as its evolution, can be detected in his novel La Peste, which was published ten years later in 1947. The bearing of Camus’s identification with the Mediterranean world on his speech is that it generated a sense of in-betweenness. This in-betweenness, I argue, is a key feature of Camus’s Mediterranean thought that is also found in La Peste’s subject matter, its universal themes of exile, belonging, love and separation, along with the chronicle’s imitation of Thucydides’ own narratorial style. In-betweenness thus provides us with a lens through which Camus’s Mediterraneanism can be clearly linked to La Peste. Jacquelyn Libby v Doctoral Thesis Acknowledgments I would like to thank all the people who helped and supported me with writing this dissertation, especially my advisor, Professor Peter Consenstein and my outside reader, Professor Jason Herbeck. Special thanks also go to my husband, Cameron Pearson, for his unfailing support and encouragement throughout this odyssey. Jacquelyn Libby vi Doctoral Thesis Table of Contents Introduction 1 Chapter One: Camus’s Mediterranean Thought in his speech “La culture indigène. La Nouvelle Culture Méditerranéenne.” 10 Chapter Two: In-betweenness in the narration of La Peste. 66 Section II 83 Section III 109 Section IV 118 Section V 124 Section VI 135 Chapter Three: In-betweenness and separation as foundational to the allegorical in Camus’s La Peste. 146 Section II 170 Section III 199 Section IV 208 Conclusion 223 Edwidge Danticat 232 Kamel Daoud 237 Hamid Grine 242 Bibliography 248 Jacquelyn Libby 1 Doctoral Thesis Albert Camus’s Mediterraneanism in La Peste Introduction Albert Camus’s writing covers multiple genres. Throughout his lifetime he produced work as a literary author, playwright, essayist, philosophical thinker, and journalist. For this reason he has been studied within scholarly circles for his connection to a variety of fields including, to name a few, existentialism, the philosophy of the absurd, literary lyricism, political theory, as well as regarding issues of measure, justice and revolt. An examination of the relationship between the different genres of Camus’s works can also shed light on the interconnection between the varied themes that are present in his writing. The following dissertation is focused on the speech Camus gave at the inauguration of a new community arts center in Algiers in 1937, entitled “La Culture Indigène. La Nouvelle Culture Méditerranéenne,” and how this expression of Mediterraneanism, as well as its evolution, can be detected in his novel La Peste, which was published ten years later in 1947. The speech and all other quotations from Camus’s work are taken from Albert Camus Œuvres Complètes. Vols I-II, 2006 III-IV, 2008 Camus delivered his speech on a new Mediterranean culture at the age of 23. His words express a mixture of both youthful outrage and naïve idealism. His call for the recognition of a new Mediterranean culture was born from a wish to rally against the rising tide of right wing politics and the growing power of nationalist and fascist governments across Europe. This spirited cry also exposed Camus’s desire to articulate the cultural connection he felt to this maritime region that touches the shores of three continents - a connection he believed was shared by other southern European settlers living in colonial Jacquelyn Libby 2 Doctoral Thesis French Algeria. Politicians of the 1930’s in Spain, France and Germany had been legitimizing their national identity tracing their country’s history back to the Mediterranean by proclaiming themselves as descendants of Rome. Camus’s Mediterranean culture however, had its foundational origins emanating from further east – from Ancient Greece. These opposing viewpoints, of where to source the roots of Western civilization, via Rome or Ancient Greece, are a good example of how the Mediterranean cultures of Ancient Greece and Rome along with their expansionist colonizations can be appropriated by politicians and thinkers alike to justify a foundational unity to contemporary national culture. Camus’s Mediterraneanism was thus born out of twofold circumstances stemming from a reaction against the politics of his day combined with a need to articulate the kinship he felt with other inhabitants of the Mediterranean region, admittedly by and large from European environs, and in particular his affinity for the culture and history of Greece. This specific situation is a good example of discord between the private and the public sphere with regard to the articulation of cultural identity. Camus’s personal and passionate desire to articulate his cultural community’s place in society by virtue of his Mediterranean thought did not in fact always keep step with the national political discourse. This complex situation is at the heart of not just understanding Camus’s Mediterraneanism, but also plays a role in the misconceptions of what he stood for; a complicated point of view. Aside from being the subject of Camus’s inauguration speech, his admiration and affection for Mediterranean culture, history, nature and peoples, surfaces throughout his lifetime’s œuvre, and especially features in what is considered some of his most lyrical fictional work, such as L’Envers et l’Endroit (Camus 1: 29), Noces (1: 99) and L’Été (3: 565), Jacquelyn Libby 3 Doctoral Thesis to mention a few examples published before WW II. The essay ‘Amour de Vivre’ (1: 64), from the collection L’Envers et l’Endroit recounts Camus’s descriptions and observations of Spanish life as experienced in Palma, the capital of Mallorca. In ‘Noces à Tipasa’ (1: 105), from Noces, Camus extols the natural beauty of the Mediterranean and in L’Été it is not just the natural beauty of the Mediterranean sea and sun which feature since Camus appropriates Ancient Greek culture in referencing Prometheus, Helen, and the Minotaur in the title of three of his essays (3: 589, 597 & 567). Moreover, in the final section of his non- fictional essay, L’Homme Révolté (3: 61), which was published four years after La Peste and fourteen years after giving his inauguration speech, Camus again sets out his Mediterranean thought under the heading ‘La Pensée de midi,’ (3: 300). The political backdrop of the 1930’s influenced Camus’s 1937 speech. Likewise the historical and political context of WW II and its aftermath play an important role in the development of ‘La Pensée de midi.’ In the concluding pages of L’Homme Révolté, Camus extols his Mediterranean humanism as a stratagem of resistance to counter the socio-politico excesses of those years. “La pensée autoritaire, à la faveur de trois guerres et grâce à la destruction physique d’une élite de révoltés, a submergé cette tradition libertaire. Mais cette pauvre victoire est provisoire, le combat dure toujours. L’Europe n’a jamais été que dans cette lutte entre midi et minuit” (Camus 3: 318). In his argument, Camus edifies Mediterranean history and thought, which for him is grounded in the philosophy and culture of Ancient Greece. He posits that the Mediterranean tradition of balance, categorized as ‘la mesure,’ provides the necessary opposition to ‘la démesure’ wrought by the upheaval of a war, occupation and extreme ideology. Camus uses Ancient Greek myth to elucidate his argument: Jacquelyn Libby 4 Doctoral Thesis Cette limite était symbolisée par Némésis, déesse de la mesure, fatale aux démesures (3: 315). Ce contrepoids, cet esprit qui mesure la vie, est celui- là même qui anime la longue tradition de ce qu’on peut appeler la pensée solaire et où, depuis les Grecs, la nature a toujours été équilibrée au devenir. L’histoire de la 1re Internationale où le socialisme allemand lutte sans arrêt contre la pensée libertaire des Français, des Espagnols et des Italiens, est l’histoire des luttes entre l’idéologie allemande et l’esprit méditerranéen. la longue confrontation entre la mesure et la démesure qui anime l’histoire de l’Occident, depuis le monde antique. (3: 317) Thus, essential components of Camus’s 1937 inauguration speech (re)appear in L’Homme Révolté, albeit more sharply shaped by the political, social and economic impact of WW II and the post war years: “Le conflit profond de ce siècle ne s’établit .

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