The aim of this study is to examine the ideas of Albert Camus on social injustice as he sets them forth in his four Plays, Caligula, Le Malentendu, L'État de Siège and Les Justes. The term "social injustice" we have interpreted in its widest sense, as applying to every aspect of human relations. We have made the analysis under two main headings, the injustice that confronts man, and the reaction of man in the face of this injustice, considering each side of the problem on three levels, political, psychological and metaphysical. The awareness of injustice came early to Camus in his own youthful experience. His desire and search for justice is evident then in his earliest writings, inspired by a revolt against the absurdity of man's fate. At the same time, however, he reveals a sensitivity to the beauty of the world and a joy in being alive, that influence his thought and attitudes at all times. One constant source of happiness and satisfaction for Camus was the theatre which, from his school days until his death, he enjoyed as actor, producer and dramatic writer of many adaptations as well as the four original plays. As the theme of injustice leads inevitably to conflict, it is natural that Camus should have chosen the theatre in which to work out his ideas and involve the spectator in the reactions of his characters on the stage. In the first section, the injustice that confronts man, Chapter one deals with the political level. We focus our attention on the political injustice that oppresses the people ruled with absolute power by a ruthless emperor in Caligula, by a totalitarian regime in L 'État de Siège and by the tyranny of the Russian Czars in Les Justes. In this last play we note too the dangers of tyranny in an authoritarian political group organized to combat by violent means the despotic government of the country. In the dialogue of the play and the attitudes of the characters we discern the thinking of Camus. In Chapter two we consider at the psychological level the effects of living under these inherently unjust rulers, the injustices of fear, hate, humiliation, despair and so on which afflict the victims. We see this in the same three plays as above. These injustices exist also to oppress the characters of Le Malentendu. Here, however, they result from the hardships of climate, poverty and family inadequacy. In Chapter three we deal with injustice at the metaphysical level, the absurdity of human life dominated by suffering and death. That concept immediately poses the question of the value of life, the happiness, love, beauty and freedom that man craves. These two aspects are evident i n the c o n f l i c t of all four plays. In Part Two, man confronted by injustice, we come to the reaction of the victims of injustice at the three levels, the revolt or acceptance on the part of the characters involved, the destructive or positive approach towards the elimination of social ills. Here we can mark out certain great rebels who aim to destroy evil and on the other hand certain great champions of liberty who work to create justice and happiness. From this we endeavour to indicate Camus' point of view on methods of revolt. In Chapter one of this section, devoted to man's re-actions to injustice, it is again the political level that concerns us. Here the great question is the justification or condemnation of violence, especially as seen in Caligula and Les Justes. Chapter two, the psychological level, leads us to personal feelings and motives, whether hate, fear and humiliation or courage, brotherhood and dignity. In all four plays we note the inner conflict produced by the impact of injustice on the human personality. We observe through his characters the importance Camus places upon love and responsibility to mankind in man's struggle to achieve satisfaction in life. In Chapter three, the metaphysical level, we analyze man's behaviour in the face of the absurdity of his human existence, his revolt, his efforts to overcome the limitations and cruelty of his destiny and to create by his own efforts a tolerable degree of justice and happiness. In Caligula and Le Malentendu we have the negative approach which succombs finally to despair. In L'État de Siège also we have the nihilist Nada. However, both in this play and in Les Justes we find a vindication of man's sense of the value of life to be achieved in liberty and happiness. In conclusion we indicate the evolution of Camus' views from the pessimism of the idea of the absurd to the humanism of seeking to fulfil man's destiny in dignity and beauty. In his condemnation of violence and his assertion of the power of brotherhood to build a world of order, justice and freedom, Camus has much to offer the world of today, menaced by dissension, war and total destruction. We find that his plays continue to attract audiences of concerned people, especially the young generation seeking a path to human dignity and fulfilment. / Arts, Faculty of / French, Hispanic, and Italian Studies, Department of / Graduate

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Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

On n'en prend pas souvent la mesure, Albert Camus c'est à la fois une œuvre et une conduite. Dans la construction de l'identité de l'écrivain-polygraphe, la scène du périodique a été une expérience matricielle. Loin de se réduire au double paradigme de l'absurde et de la révolte, on voit ainsi poindre la figure d'un intellectuel écrivant, ancré dans la bataille des idées de son époque, et dont le jeu spéculaire postule un « agir par le dire.» Notre étude, charpentée en trois phases, tente d'abord de cerner les modèles auctoriaux qui nourrissent son engagement civique ainsi que ses chevaux de bataille au cœur du XX ème siècle en crise. Elle tente ensuite d'éclairer les modulations, les stratégies énonciatives par lesquelles se structure la poétique d'une écriture de combat intimement liée aux urgences du contexte, et en constant ajustement avec les contraintes génériques ; se profile ainsi en filigrane la manière dont l'écrivain-journaliste gère la tension constitutive à tout discours journalistique engagé : informer avec objectivité/impossibilité de dire sans prendre parti. Enfin, l'analyse s'attache à examiner par quelle scénographie auctoriale le journaliste-rhéteur, dont la parole, en prise sur un auditoire à la fois situé et virtuel, postule une efficacité rhétorique, trouve sa voie dans la polyphonie discursive du cotexte. En redécouvrant un auteur canonique par-delà le cadre contraint du « champ littéraire et intellectuel » des « années noires », on mesure non seulement ce que l'écrivain doit au journaliste, mais surtout en quoi son expérience du périodique concentre toute l’œuvre sous la plume, et éclaire du même coup la posture hétérodoxe et singulière d'un des derniers héritiers du « temps des prophètes ». / Ones does not take often measurement of it, Albert Camus is at the same time a work and a control. In the construction of the identity of the writer-polygraph, the scene of the periodical was a matric experiment. Far from being reduced to the double paradigm absurdity and revolt, one sees stinging the figure of a writing intellectual, anchored in the battle of the ideas of his time, and whose specular game applies one “to act by saying it.” Our study, constructed in three phases, initially tries to determine the auctorial models which nourish its civic commitment like its hobby horses in the middle of the XX ème century in crisis. Secondly tries to clarify the modulations, the enunciative strategies by which structure the poetic one of a writing of combat closely related to the urgencies of the context, and in constant adjustment with the generic constraints; is profiled who makes in filigree of it, the way in which the writer-journalist manages the constitutive tension with any committed journalistic speech: to inform with objectivity/impossibility of saying without coming out. Lastly, the analysis attempts to examine by which scenography auctorial the journalist-rhetor, whose word, in catch on an audience at the same time located and virtual, applies a rhetoric effectiveness, finds its way in the discursive polyphony of the cotexte. By rediscovering a canonical author beyond the constrained framework of the “literary and intellectual field” of the “black years”, one measures not only what the writer owes to the journalist, but especially in what its experiment of the periodical concentrates all work under the feather, and clarifies at the same time the heterodox and singular posture of one of the last heirs to the “time of the prophets”.

Diss. : Lit. : Frankfurt : 1989. / Originally presented as the author's thesis (doctoral)--Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main, 1989. Bibliogr.: p. 178-193.

Thèses (Ph.D.)--Université de Sherbrooke (Canada), 2001. / Titre de l'écran-titre (visionné le 20 juin 2006). Publié aussi en version papier.

Zugl.: Hamburg, Univ., Diss., 2008

Thesis (M.A.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2004. / Bibliography: leaves 115-125.

La thèse rend compte d’une tentative de penser le rapport entre les mythes bibliques et l’œuvre d’Albert Cohen. Pour cela, la première partie de la thèse s’emploie à mettre en lumière la façon dont les mythes de la Genèse deviennent des palimpsestes sur lesquels se greffe l’existence simultanée d’interprétations superposées et souvent contradictoires. Langage codé par excellence, le mythe dévoile le mystère des commencements en même temps qu’il peut renforcer sa profonde opacité. L’hypothèse est que sous le couvert d’une dialectique entre la création et la chute, les mythes dissimulent une complexité générique : il s’agit de l’articulation problématique de l’origine et de sa résistance à toute tentative d’élucidation. Tout s’articule autour du savoir que les mythes véhiculent sur les genres biologiques (animal / humain), les genres grammaticaux (masculin / féminin) et les genres du discours religieux (religieux ou philosophique/ littéraire). Dans une deuxième partie, la thèse examine les enjeux religieux et philosophiques des mythes et des figures messianiques, en tant que modèles de joie, d’espérance et de rédemption. Le messianisme, en tant que phénomène d’espérance réactualise la quête de la plénitude, qui vient cependant se heurter à l’insatisfaction ontologique de l’homme. Dans une troisième partie, une analyse de l’œuvre sous les feux croisés des mythes de la révolte (Babel, Satan, Job) vient éclairer la dimension ambivalente d’un Dieu qui se dérobe à toute tentative de compréhension. Cette étude est sous-tendue par deux axes de lecture qui mettent en évidence la glorification d’une révolte humaine et la nécessité d’arriver à une compréhension de l’humain, qui serait affranchie de toute scorie mythique. / This thesis is an attempt to understand the relationship between biblical myths and the works of Albert Cohen. The first part of the thesis examines how the myths of Genesis form the main platform on which multiple, and often contradictory meanings tend to manifest themselves. Being mainly a coded language, the myth is profoundly ambivalent as it is the privileged receptacle of different interpretations. Under an apparently ordered story about the creation of man and his downfall, caused by the original sin, the myth hides a generic complexity: the problematic articulation between species (human / animal), genders (male / female) and genres (religious or philosophical / literary). In the second part, the thesis highlights the religious and philosophical aspects of the messianic figures and myths. Messianic attempts at regaining a sense of completeness often coincide with the ontological feeling of dissatisfaction, experienced by mankind. The third part of the thesis deals with myths of revolt and disobedience (Babel, Satan, Job) which highlight the ambivalent nature of the biblical God. This study underlines the glorification of human revolt and the need to ascertain a humanistic view of mankind, free from mythical underlyings.

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