Ionesco and Camus in the Age of Covid: Power, Chaos, Responsibility

Abstract

The epidemic has put at the forefront of our consideration the limits of scientific and political capabilities. It forces us to question our ability to control not only the virus, but also our human destiny. We will explore in this chaotic context Eugène Ionesco’s Jeux de Massacre in which a mysterious infectious disease is disseminating communities, and Camus’s L’État de siège. We study both plays in light of the permanent “state of emergency” that French authorities have put in place in the age of Covid. Elected officials from the Left and the Right denounced the government’s measure which they claim was infringing on people’s liberty. We examine through the plays the questions of power/authority, paranoia/violence, but also responsibility in a historical and contemporary context.

Keywords:

• Covid-19
• power
• violence
• divide
• populism
• responsibility

Notes

1 See Eugénie Bastié, Rester vivants: Qu’est-ce qu’une civilisation après le Coronavirus?, Paris, Fayard, 2020, p. 148.

2 Alison Sargent, “French Domestic Violence Cases Soar During Coronavirus Lockdown,” Paris, France 24, 10 April 2020.

3 “Democracy Index 2020,” Paris, Economist Intelligence Unit, 2020, https://www.eiu.com/n/campaigns/democracy-index-2020/. Accessed 26 Apr. 2022.

4 Sonia Kronlund and Delphine Saltel, “En première ligne, jeune médecin à l’épreuve du covid,” Paris, France Culture, 18 November 2020.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Éric Touya de Marenne

Éric Touya de Marenne is Professor of French. He received his D.E.A. in Comparative Literature at the Université de Paris IV, Sorbonne, and his Ph.D. in Romance Languages and Literatures at the University of Chicago. He received the John B. and Thelma A. Gentry Award for Teaching Excellence in the Humanities, the Dean’s Award for Outstanding Achievement in Service, and a National Endowment for the Humanities award for his work on Alexis de Tocqueville. His research and teaching interests include nineteenth and twenty-first Century French and Francophone literature and culture, and interdisciplinary approaches to literature, art, feminism, culture, theory, ethics, and social studies.