The void in Camus Theater Cover Image

Le vide dans le théâtre camusien
The void in Camus Theater

Author(s): Renata Jakubczuk
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Literary Texts, Studies of Literature, Comparative Study of Literature, French Literature, Theory of Literature
Published by: Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski Jana Pawła II, Instytut Filologii Romańskiej & Wydawnictwo Werset
Keywords: Camus; Caligula; Le Malentendu; emptiness; God

Summary/Abstract: This article is an analysis of two plays by a great French literature writer, Albert Camus : Caligula (1945) and Le Malentendu (The Misunderstanding sometimes published as Cross Purpose, 1944). After a careful presentation of the plots of the play, we are proposing a definition of the following terms: the absence and the void. Afterwards, we examine the nature of the absences presented and we offer a classification of such absences. We establish four categories of the void: philosophical, spiritual, physical, and the absence of the closest kin. A re-reading of the dramaturgical texts serves to appreciate the manner in which these texts are presented to the reader/spectator and to prove that the Camusian void is in a strict relation with an existential pain associated with the absence of God in people’s life.

  • Issue Year: 2012
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 54-65
  • Page Count: 12
  • Language: French