| Abstrakt: |
The three collections of tragic stories of Jean-Pierre Camus, L'Amphithéâtre sanglant, Les Spectacles d'horreur and Les Rencontres funestes, were already the object of several studies which insist most of the time on the dissuasive role of the terrible scenes represented in the eyes of the reader with a particular sense of macabre detail. Our purpose in this article is to nuance this summary approach by taking into account his conception of the passions explained in the Traitté des passions de l'âme and the Traité de la Réformation intérieure. It seems in the light of these works that the intention of Camus in his stories is not simply to illustrate the idea that nothing escapes the vigilance of the Providential Justice and that God punishes inevitably all delinquents. Certainly Camus tries to terrify to improve, but also incites to think. Indeed the Providentialism of the bishop of Belley gives an important place to a rational conception of Justice, because it invites the readers to understand the criminal behaviours in relationship to passionate mechanisms causing their fatal development. This particular representation of the crime, that also focuses on the psychological issues, is rich with many repercussions on the narrative structure, rhetoric and morality of his tragic stories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
