'La Méditerranée in Albert Camus's Early Writings

‘LA MÉDITERRANÉE’ IN ALBERT CAMUS’S EARLY WRITINGS by JINGCHAO JIANG A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS BY RESEARCH French Studies School of Languages, Cultures, Art History and Music College of Arts and Law The University of Birmingham September 2014 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT This thesis is centred on Camus’s early writings in relation to the development of the writer’s reflections on ‘La Méditerranée’. Its aim is to analyse how the concept of ‘La Méditerranée’ evolves in Camus’s early works, whether they are intellectual or creative. Analysis is conducted via three phases of Camus’s early writings: (1) from 1933 to August 1936, three preliminary key ideas regarding ‘La Méditerranée’ – ‘A Greco-Roman world’, ‘Le Midi et la mesure’, and ‘Embracing this-worldly life’ – are drawn; (2) following Nietzsche’s identification of two Ancient Greeces – pre-Socratic and post-Socratic, Camus systematically defines ‘La Méditerranée’ as a region full of the sunshine and the sea and as a culture which implies the sense of life, internationalism, a recognition of ‘la mesure et la limite’, instead of Christianity, nationalism and excessive military might based on the post-Socratics’ excessive rationality; (3) the literary text of L’Étranger is shown as closely connected with the key ideas concerning the Mediterranean elucidated in the previous two phases. This study challenges the tendency to view ‘La Méditerranée’ as an invariable concept in Camus’s works but focuses on the evolution of the concept in the writer’s early writings. As such, it contributes to showing the complexity with which the concept is developed and provides the basis for new insights into Camus’s early writings concerning ‘La Méditerranée’. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank all those involved in the production of my thesis, and the variety of roles they have played. First, I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisors, Dr. Béatrice Damamme-Gilbert and Professor Francis Lough, for their academic guidance, encouragement all this time and tireless patience with me. There is a Chinese proverb saying: ‘To read ten thousand books is no better than to walk ten thousand miles. To walk ten thousand miles is no better than to see different people. To see different people is no better than to be guided by great teachers.’ The mentorship by my supervisors is in that case, which is so valuable in providing a diverse experience that encourages me to complete the degree in the UK, and more importantly, to grow. Second, the University of Birmingham and Santander, for their generous funds to support my postgraduate study, thus I can have the opportunity to study and live in the UK these years. Third, a heartfelt thank you to my parents, who live in China but whose love and support have been throughout my academic years. Last, Min Wang – my great good fortune, whose love and companionship continues to encourage me to persist in my research. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 1 Aims and key terms ............................................................................................................... 1 Critical Views of Albert Camus and his Works .................................................................... 3 Objectives ............................................................................................................................ 11 CHAPTER ONE: THE CHOICE OF A METHODOLOGY ............... 14 Camus and Atheistic Existentialism .................................................................................... 14 The Context of ‘La Méditerranée’ Approach ...................................................................... 18 CHAPTER TWO: ‘LA MÉDITERRANÉE’ IN CAMUS’S EARLY WRITINGS FROM 1933 TO 1936 ..................................................................... 24 A Greco-Roman World ....................................................................................................... 26 Le Midi et la mesure ........................................................................................................... 40 Embracing This-worldly Life .............................................................................................. 44 CHAPTER THREE: ‘ANCIENT GREECE’ AND CAMUS’S CONCEPT OF ‘LA MÉDITERRANÉE’ ........................................................ 52 Nietzsche and Two Ancient Greeces .................................................................................. 53 Camus’s Rejection of Excessive Reason ............................................................................ 63 Camus’s Concept of ‘La Méditerranée’ .............................................................................. 81 CHAPTER FOUR: ‘LA MÉDITERRANÉE’ IN L’ÉTRANGER ...... 89 Critical Views of L’Étranger .............................................................................................. 91 ‘La Méditerranée’ as a Region in L’Étranger ..................................................................... 97 A Mediterranean Man Dominated by Physical Awareness ............................................... 106 A Mediterranean Man Embracing This-Worldly Life and Refusing Doctrines ................ 115 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................... 124 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................... 130 APPENDICES ............................................................................................................. 151 APPENDIX 1: VERBATIM TRANSCRIPTION SECTIONS......................................... 151 APPENDIX FOREWORD: CONVENTIONS ............................................................. 151 VERBATIM TRANSCRIPTION SECTIONS ............................................................. 153 ELEMENTS RELATED TO ‘LE SOLEIL’ AND ‘LA MER’ IN THE TEXT OF L’ÉTRANGER ............................................................................................................... 153 APPENDIX 2: THE COVERS USED FOR THE NEW EDITION OF CAMUS’S WORKS BY PENGUIN BOOKS .................................................................................................... 165 INTRODUCTION Aims and key terms The central question of this thesis is to investigate the notion, the importance and also the problematics of ‘La Méditerranée’ in Albert Camus’s early writings.1 I firstly explore what ‘La Méditerranée’ is with reference to works in the following periods: 1. from 1933 to August 1936; 2. mainly from September 1936 to 1937, but also with a reference to Camus’s one essay in 1932, in Chapters Two and Three respectively. The reason for the division takes account of Camus’s thought development: I argue that while in the first period, Camus did not clarify what was meant by ‘La Méditerranée’ but equated it with a ‘Greco-Roman’ world, with a value on ‘le midi et la mesure’ and a devotion to ‘this-worldly life’2; in the second period, with his refusal of excessive reason, he defined it both as a geographical region linked with the sun and the sea, and as a cultural value associated with pre-Socratics who were concerned with immediate life and man’s physical senses. In Chapter Four, 3 I will give a detailed analysis of the literary text of L’Étranger (1942) examining 1 All quotations from Camus’s works are taken from the Pléiade edition of the Œuvres complètes (Paris: Gallimard, Vol. I (2006), Vol. II (2006), Vol. III, (2008), Vol. IV (2008)). The names of the specific pieces of works will be given, with all page references to this Pléiade edition, using I, II, III or IV to indicate the volume referred to. To avoid repetition, if quotations in one paragraph or in adjacent sections come from the same piece of work, only the first quote will indicate from which piece it is taken and its publication year. Titles and dates will not be repeated unless there is a risk of ambiguity or confusion. 2 This notion will be discussed on pp. 44-50. 3 This novel was first published in May 1942 by Gallimard. See Pierre-Louis Rey, ‘Chronologie’, in Albert Camus, Œuvres complètes Vol. I, 1931-1944, (Paris: Éditions Gallimard, 2006), pp. LXIX – XCVIII (p. LXXX). In fact, a fragment written in May 1938 of ‘Cahier II (septembre 1937 - avril 1939)’: ‘La vieille femme à l’asile de vieillards, qui meurt’ (Carnets 1935-1948, 1962: II, 852) announced the starting point of L’Étranger. After two years’ long gestation, Camus completed it in May 1940: ‘L’Étranger est terminé’ (ibid., 914). Thus the examination of these fragments in Carnets 1935-1948 means that Camus’s writing of L’Étranger closely followed his works of 1937. 1 the importance of ‘La Méditerranée’ throughout this twentieth-century classic novel. Although Camus is widely considered as an atheistic existentialist, it should be emphasised at the outset

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