"Ces forces obscures de l’âme"

Women, race and origins in the writings of Albert Camus
Erscheinungsjahr 2008
ISBN: 978-90-420-2379-6
Verlag: Brill | Rodopi

Buch, Französisch, Band 311, 356 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 562 g

Reihe: Faux Titre

This is the first major investigation of Camus’s prose fiction to explore the developing presentation of women, from the author’s earliest writings to his last, unfinished novel. Avoiding the traditional relegation of this subject to an emotional or private sphere, it traces Camus’s intellectual development in order to demonstrate the centrality of this subject to Camus’s work as a whole. If the Absurd, constructed over the body of the “real” woman, liberates the writer to follow a “true path” of literary creation, the impending loss of his Algerian homeland impells a return to “all that he had not been free to choose”, the ties of blood. These conflictual and unresolved ties are here investigated, in conjunction with the presentation of mythical female figures expressing Camus’s darkest fears, partly voiced in other writings, concerning that “other” Algeria for which he would never fight. Exploring complex interconnections between sexuality, “race” and colonialism, this volume is pertinent to all who are interested in the writings of Camus, particularly those seeking relevant new ways of approaching his work.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturwissenschaft
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Romanische Literaturen Französische Literatur
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Gruppen/Soziale Themen Gender Studies, Geschlechtersoziologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Abbreviations
Introduction
Chapter 1: Early Confrontations with Others: the Écrits de Jeunesse
Chapter 2: The Death of Woman and the Birth of Culture
Chapter 3: The Man-god and Death as an Act of the Will
Chapter 4: The Dark Continent of L’Étranger
Chapter 5: Mythical Women in La Peste
Chapter 6: Woman, Race and the Fall of Man
Chapter 7: Sexual Topographies
Chapter 8: The First Man
Selected Bibliography
Index