L’absurde, creuset de l’expérience mystique L’exemple de quelques romans des années trente et quarante

Phenomenology and existentialism have fostered a kind of mysticism related to the absurd. Nevertheless, its expression in the novel is revealing of divergent ways peculiar to this mysticism of immanence. In certain writers (Camus, Sartre) the mystical experience finds its limit in the ethical requirement of mastery, being subjugated that way. In certain others (Blanchot), it is developed with a radicality which puts into question the forms of the traditional novel.