PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Belmihi, Youssef
TI  - The representation of the absurd in the light of Albert Camus's essay Le mythe de Sisyphe
DP  - 2025 Jul 5
TA  - Romanica Olomucensia
PG  - 133--159
VI  - 37
IP  - 1
AID - 10.5507/ro.2025.007
IS  - 18034136
AB  - This paper attempts to identify the seeds of the notion of the 'absurd' in the thought of Albert Camus in the light of his essay Le Mythe de Sisyphe ('The Myth of Sisyphus'). In order to analyse the terms of representation of this notion, it is necessary to carry out a notional screening in two complementary stages. The first traces the process from conception to meaning of the absurd, demonstrating the relationship between feelings and reason in the formation of this notion in Camus's mind. A priori resistant to definition, the notion of the absurd eventually took shape in Camus's mind as the expression of incompatibility between human aspirations and the implacable state of the world. Now that the concept has been defined according to Camus's conception, the second part of our analysis looks at how it can be put into practice. Five sine qua non criteria must be respected: The I as author and character, Describing without explaining, Fidelity to the principles of the absurd, Absence of hope, and Creating in diversity. Thus, the representation of the absurd has recommendations for writing, of which Le Mythe de Sisyphe proves to be the matrix test for the works to come. It subsumes the poetics of writing so that the work remains faithful, in its progression and variation, to the principles of the absurd.