Du mythe à la rêverie méditerranéenne, autour d’Albert Camus

"If you want to be a philosopher, write novels" the young Albert Camus jotted down in his brand new "notebooks". Besides his plays, his prose pieces where Mediterranean meditations are ever-present, are thus to be read as narratives (or even short stories) blending landscape descriptions with a more philosophical discourse. Thus his essays evince an original, hybrid pattern through which modernized Greek myths become more prominent, despite his early rejection of mythologies. The writer’s life experiences progressively shape out the dynamic images of Camus’ Mediterranean. They foster disjunctive structures where contradictory tensions set into sharp focus a creative, regenerating Mediterranean radiance. Following Camus’ various Mediterranean episodes enlightens our understanding of his discourse on Man steeped in the land that bore him and to which he feels strongly drawn. Such is the case of his specifically Mediterranean essay.