"Ces forces obscures de l'ame" : women, race and origins in the writings of Albert Camus / Christie Margerrison.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Margerrison, Christine.

Series:

Faux titre ; no. 311.

Faux titre, 0167-9392 ; 311

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Camus, Albert, 1913-1960--Criticism and interpretation.

Camus, Albert.

Women in literature.

Race in literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (357 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Amsterdam [etc.] : Rodopi, 2008.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

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.

Contents:

Preliminary Material

Abbreviations

Introduction

Early Confrontations with Others: the Écrits de jeunesse

The Death of Woman and the Birth of Culture

The Man-god and Death as an Act of the Will

The Dark Continent of L’Étranger

Mythical women in La Peste

Woman, Race and the Fall of Man

Sexual topographies

The First Man

Selected Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

94-012-0569-8

1-4356-3907-3

OCLC:

248060990

Publisher Number:

10.1163/9789401205696 DOI