J O A N N A H A N D E R E K

T H E R O L E O F A R T I N T H E P H I L O S O P H Y C A M U S

A N D S A R T R E

A B S T R A C T

The presented article will depict the problem of art. In existential philosophy.Concentrating on philosophy of Sartre and Camus, one can recognize the role theexistentialists attribute to art. Both Nausea by Sartre and L’homme revolte by Camuscontain premises for the thought, that man can reach a specific kind of “salvation”or in other words, find oneself through art. This act is always accompanied by cre-ation, struggle with reality of both the creator and the spectator. The art however,as the only domain of human activity, which cannot be achieved in any other wayin his existence. The meaning or understanding—open for new interpretations andpossible to be temporarily achieved are offered by art itself. The existentialists,developing the problem of existence of human being point out to its ambiguouscondition, stretched between authenticity and inauthenticity, becoming oneself andfailure of such project. The art, as Sartre emphasizes, can be also divided to authen-tic and inauthentic, the first one opening before the man the possibility of richerbeing, allowing to realize, what authenticity and the road to understanding it is.

In The Words, Jean Paul Sartre depicts the role of literature in the human condi-tion. The Words is a kind of Memoir, the genre especially popular with existentialistthinkers. In a very private mode he describes his childhood, his relationship with hisgrandfather and his mother. What is the most important in that very particular bookthough, is the Sartrean understanding of literature and its role in existence.

Sartre grows up in the house of his grandfather, who is a very severe and author-itarian man. The library becomes his only shelter, the only place where he canexercise his individual freedom unrestrained. As Sartre himself puts it: “I never tilledthe soil or hunted for nests. I did not gather herbs or throw stones at birds. But bookswere my birds and my nest, my household pets, my barn and my country side.”1 Inhis book about Sartre and Camus, Germaine Brée identifies the love-hate relation-ship with his grandfather as the primary factor which tied Sartre with literature.2 Inother words, Sartre’s sad childhood, dominated by the intellectual attitude and thestrictness of his grandfather, forced him to look for another world, for a “better”reality. Literature in itself has given such “better”, “improved” sphere.

Sartre’s first contact with literature has a significant influence on his imagina-tion and is the root of his later conviction that literature is superior to real life.This conviction prevails in Sartre’s philosophy. Sartre’s concept of the man asbeing-for-himself emphasizes the open structure of the human being. Thus Sartretreats man as the one, who consistently creates himself/herself. What’s more,

319

A.-T. Tymieniecka (ed.), Analecta Husserliana CIX, 319–327.DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-0773-3_24, C© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011

320 J O A N N A H A N D E R E K

being-for-himself is a being without essence. In consequence the man can neverbe complete and satisfied. Such condition of the man has got only one possibility—literature.

The role of the literature is not only to create the domain of freedom in humanimagination. Foremost it is the act of creating values, it is adding to the inexplicableand unreasonable world the missing meanings. As Sartre describes it in The Worlds,writer is not only a man who writes a novel, it is a man who creates a new reality.3

Such understanding of creative act, establishes a connection between writing andresponsibility—a special kind of attitude and consciousness of a man who creates.

In Nausea Sartre describes such role of the art. Roquentin—the main character ofthe novel—has been looking for meaning of existence for so long, that he almost for-got what has been his endeavor. As unmet historian, unaccomplished man, he loseshis ends, and himself. It is the art—true—or as Sartre names it—authentic art—which brings back Roquentin to life. Sartre depicts it in the form of two spheres.First level is the peace of music—the old ragtime song, which brings Roquentinback from disappointment and dejection to hope and will of action. The second levelis the decision to write a book. And this decision, this concept of writing brings himback the meaning. Allowing to believe, that Roquentin’s life is not lost, and devoidof sense.

That concept of art, the true, engaged art, in The Nausea is contrasted with inau-thentic art. Sartre describes Roquentin visiting the Bouville museum and the artgallery. There the pictures of the meritorious citizens of Bouville are presented. Thisis the kind of art which from metaphysical point of view, according to Sartre, is aforgery of being, and life. Frederic Willis analyzes the concept of Sartre’s literaturewrote: “Roquentin facing the imposture of men who try to turn their non-existenceinto a most stable form of existence. Those man (noble citizens) took the stan-dards to their society. They were guilty of systematical and totally self-centeredmauvais foi, for which Roquentin hates them.”4 That example of inauthentic art,which produces artificial values and brings artificial categories into world shows,that art is not only important, but also, that art belongs to the domain of responsi-bility. The Nausea illustrates how role of art can be important for the man and howit can enhance his consciousness. Thus aspects of the art must be very carefullychosen.

The case of authentic art (the most important and the most precious for Sartre),shown in Nausea explains intuition which we find in The Words—art as a domainof free creation, a scope of the possibilities and meaning. What is impossible on thelevel of everydayness, what is abandoned in human condition is rescued in literatureand creation. Undoubtedly literature for young Sartre had a therapeutic role. In hisphilosophy he discovered something more than only possibility of relief and creationto “improve” reality. In his philosophy Sartre shows, that human being has got achance for justification of his/her existence. An Act of creation is not an act of refugefrom reality and its problems. It is the act of deeper understanding of himself/herself.It is the act of bringing into the un-axiological world the values.

From the ontological point of view Being-for-himself, the being which is for noth-ing, in the act of creation can find justification. The art, literature gives what is

T H E R O L E O F A R T 321

impossible in other aspects and situations—ends. Man as being for nothing appearsas being for writing.

The responsibility put on writers has its special burden. According to Sartre,writing is not only an act of creation of world’s meaning but also it is the act of com-munication with the reader. The novelist always communicates, presents meaningsto the readers. Thus the readers have opportunity to participate in novel’s meanings.“The reader, through the mediation of the words the writer selects from the com-mon language, lends his own consciousness and time to the author for the durationof the reading and re-creates the novel world.”5 This special sort of communicationconstitutes a “commune” between the reader and the writer, obliging the writer to aspecial awareness. The act of writing depicted in “What is Literature?” is constantlythe act of giving new perspectives of thinking, new values, new dimensions to otherpeople. Therefore according to Sartre, an artist must be constantly concerned.6

This understanding of the literature and the role of the writer is used by Sartrein his own practice. The Roads to Freedom (Les chemines de la liberte) trilogybroaches such problems as war, loyalty, dignity, freedom and responsibility, andshould be considered a great example of engaged literature. This novel was writtenin response to the World War II, moral problems and difficult decisions of the manin the time of moral values breakdown. The trilogy consists of three parts—TheAge of the Reason, The Reprieve, and Iron in the Soul. In these three books Sartredescribes live and death of Mathieu, teacher of philosophy, his search for himself,struggle with his weakness. The character of Mathieu allows Sartre to show howimportant is self-consciousness and human freedom. The freedom which can changeeverything—even impossible situations and man’s own character.

For example, the scene of Mathieu’s death, illuminates a problem of self creationof the man. As Being-for-himself man is looking for the essence, trying to constitutehimself/herself. But because he/she is all his/her life Being-for-change, he/she neverreaches the essence. Man can permanently change himself/herself. Mathieu in thehour of his death re-constitutes himself. In the final moment of his existence, hemade a decision which changed everything concerning his being. From a conformistand a unspecific man he constitutes himself as a man of act. For Sartre it is veryimportant to convince his readers that man has always a possibility to change, tobecome himself, till he/she is alive. To the last moment of his/her existence mancreates himself/herself—as Mathieu who’s death was the last act of self-creation.

The Roads to Freedom obviously exemplify the engaged literature. But suchengagement we can find in every novel of Sartre. Every time he remains concernedabout human nature. In each of his books he tries to show how human existenceevolves and produces man’s stance. Frequently Sartre emphasizes that everythingdepends on man’s acting and decisions.

The responsibility of the artist in that practical aspect of Sartre’s activity confirmsthat writing is a kind of conversation. In that special relation with others, accordingto Sartre the artist can alert the readers of possibilities in their life, bringing to themwhat remained hidden before their eyes.

A very similar concept of art and the act of writing (creation in general) we canfind in Albert Camus’ philosophy. “The writer tries to draw the materials of his art

322 J O A N N A H A N D E R E K

out of the complex world in which he is involved, and which he understands onlypartly, accepting the flux, pain and joy, fully yet without submission.”7

The concept of the absurd in Camus philosophy assumes that it is impossible toexplain the world. Unreasonable, unacceptable, and variable world agitates man,annoys man’s consciousness and forces him/her to construct coherent theory aboutthe world. But because the world is not as man projected it in his coherent theory,that unpredictable character of the world is revealed. When the man discovers thathis/her expectations are pointless, he starts experiencing emptiness. The absurd isspread in front of the man.

Dealing with that condition is possible in the stance of the rebel. The rebel isagainst the lack of the meaning, the absence of values and the lack of the reasonableprinciples in the world. What is the most important, the rebellion is undertaken inthe name of the other man. Thus we can say, that to rebel is the most ethical attitudein Camus’ philosophy.

The most successful aspect of the rebel is the artistic one. The artistic disagree-ment on absurdity of the world leads to creation of art. The literature is a specialtype of the art in which the man can—in most complete way—cope with the world.As Camus depicted, writer uses an element of the real world. But writings composeelements of real world into a solid shape. Consequently writer inscribes the lackingorder, mixing senses into creating a plot. As Harold Durfee describes: “The cen-ter of Camus’ aesthetic theory is the suggestion that art, of any type, is an activitywhich affirms and denies reality in one and the same act. It is always a denial of theway things are but, at the same time, it is always an affirmation of some reality, it isattempt to give order to the chaos of the given.”8

Albert Camus, in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, said that he could not livewithout his art.9 And he claimed that “art, authentic art could not but be in theservice of the true and freedom.”10 That truth and freedom are elements which don’texist in the world as eternal, objective rules. This is what man needs, searches for.The role of the artist is to bring back to the man the truth about the world and giveto the reader respite from absurd.

Similarly to Sartre, Camus treated literature like a form of the dialogue betweenthe writer and the reader. “For him, the language of literature was a language thatcould encompass conflicts and contradictions and so throw light on the obscurityof the heart.”11 This is the way for Camus as for Sartre, by which the writer hasto take special responsibility for his/her texts. But comparing these two philoso-phers and writers we can notice that Camus’ engagement was different than thatof Sartre.

As Simone de Beauvoir noted in her memoirs, Camus—in opposition to Sartre—refuses to be a “proletarian writer”. Beyond his engagement in social matters, inhis writings Camus is focused on human condition. And as we can see, it is thecondition of every conscious being. Here we find an opposition to Sartrean attitude.Germaine Brée comments that differences in such way: Sartre always felt distance tothe working class, Camus behaves as one of that class. For Sartre his writings had aPromethean meaning, he intended to enlighten his readers. Camus rather describedproblems than tried to solve them or enlighten anyone. What is most important:

T H E R O L E O F A R T 323

“Camus saw working men as persons rather than a class. He had no sense of themor of himself as a brand of human beings set apart.”12

Therefore in Rebel Camus could keep a distance to the history, and man’s action.Rebel is the crucial text for Camus’ concept of human possibility, and existentialacting. Camus analyzes how man can create his values without transcendence andhow he can act in the meaningless world. First of all, the rebellion is the answerto the absurdity. It has three dimensions: metaphysical, historical and artistic one.The historical rebellion must be confronted with revolution. It is very importantmoment in Camus analysis. Such distinction permits to take notice of man’s actionand violence.

Investigating history of human rebel, Camus shows it as a form of metaphysicalact against gods, Prometheus’ refusal, man’s fight for his freedom. The first step,metaphysical riot to break man free from gods, divine law. But on the next levelman has to resist against their ruler—other man. So the metaphysical rebellion turnsinto a historical one. In the consequence, the rebellion is transformed into revolution.The riot against injustice and lack of value become an act of violence.

That history of violence and struggle against discrimination is demonstratedby human fate. The human fate begins with inexplicable act of god (rejectionof Kain’s offering), imperfections of human accomplishment, inherent conflict ofman’s nature. The Rebel—focusing on human struggle against his/her fate, againstthat, what is incomprehensible—concern of every human being. Therefore Camusrefuses to proclaim himself as a “proletarian writer”. Although he understands theproblem of the working class, in The Rebel, he proves that existence in general, isconfronted with meaningless world. Exploration of history allowed Camus to state,that every classification, and every conflict can bring just violence and misery.

Albert Camus’ attitude as a writer is connected with his moral convictions. Camusis a writer who is looking for possibilities of ethical act. The Rebel finishes with atreatise on art. In the act of artistic creation Camus tries to find, not only an axio-logical dimension, but foremost a dimension in which the man comes to terms withhimself/herself. “For Camus, emotion was the path to thought, and aesthetic emo-tion ranked high among the productive, creative emotion in human lives. He wasrooted in humanity.”13

This position of Camus on human nature and creativity is illustrated by his novelThe Plague. In this novel the spreading disease can be treated as inexplicable worldinto which the man is thrown. The main character, doctor Bernard Rieux, a veryprincipal man, is foremostly depicted as a man tired of the world in which hehas been living. Despite this tiredness (state of feeling man’s absurdity) during theplague he decides to act. Doctor Rieux actively involves himself in events as a med-ical doctor, and remains as such to the end. Camus describes in a subtle way, howdoctor Rieux from the man of absurd becomes the man of rebellion. His decisionsto stay and help even without hope and without proper medical service (the lackof cure)—it is the rebel against the world and meaningless destiny of human kind.Bernard Rieux’s attitude is in Prometherian terms the struggle, on the most ethi-cal level. The doctor doesn’t expect anything in exchange. By his acting, he justexpresses his disagreement with such state of reality.

324 J O A N N A H A N D E R E K

Comparison of The Plague and the Rebel allows us to realize how Camus under-stands the role of the literature. The literature can give some typifies, shows theway, brings back the value and meaning. But literature is not a substitute of real lifeand real acting. This is why Camus—in his Essay—criticizes Sartre’s Nausea. Thedisease of the main character—Roquentin—Camus interpreted as a typically intel-lectual illness. The nausea is just affliction of consciousness.14 It is not the plaguewhich engulfs human life, and forces the man to fight with fate. “Camus questionedthe appropriateness of the novel’s ending. To write a novel (by Roquentin) seemedto him a trivial resolution incommensurable with the real issue at hand, literaturebeing no panacea either for the ills of the life or for those of the intellect.”15 That iswhy his character, doctor Rieux devotes himself to work, in opposition to Roquentinwho escapes into another form of illusion.

But we have to remember that the comparison between Camus and Sartre canbe done in another way. Germaine Brée interprets The Plague and doctor Rieuxas an example of acting person. Rieux confronted with Roquentin and his doubtsmust reveal the weakness of the second. In another book by Sartre—The Roads toFreedom—we can see something different. As Ames van Meter puts it, Nausea isan illustration of “lonely frustration, horror of existence, fear of readom, relivedonly by a piece of jazz music. In the subsequent three-volume novel, The Roads toFreedom, there is a gradual climb toward social values in the war.”16

Piotr Mróz in his monograph on Sartre shows that the engaged literature describesan involvement of its character, by describing man of action. And The Road toFreedom brings the very interesting example of such literature.

Piotr Mróz gives attention to Mathieu and Gomez—two main characters in TheRoads to Freedom. To understand the role of literature in Sartre’s view, it is betterto focus on these two characters. As Mróz puts it Gomez is the man of action, andMathieu is his antithesis.17 In The Roads to Freedom Sartre describes one momentin which everything becomes clear for Gomes. When Gomes reads in Parid deSoir that Ormuz was conquered in one moment he makes a decision. Gomes leavesParis in a hurry. He leaves behind himself an abandoned space of his atelier, every-thing that had matter for him earlier. Without any explanation he just jumps into theaction, into the warfare. Consequently Gomes is shown by Sartre as the man whoputs everything on one scale—only the war becomes a real aim and a real need forGomes.

Mathieu as the antithesis—his Hamlet’s attitude—in the face of the war has moredoubts and it gives him more reason to considerations. The engagement of Gomes isa pure act, the pondering of Mathieu is an expression of human nature. Gomes canact because he renounces reflection. Gomes realizes that in absurd world the actingis the only solution. Opposite to this attitude Mathieu is still the man of thought.The absurd becomes for Mathieu an all-embracing power.

Thus The Road to Freedom is an example, not only of engaged literature, but alsoshows Sartre’s point of view on action. At the end of the book readers can discoverthat both characters lose their life. Mathieu lets him to be shot by a German solder,Gomes after defeat leaves Europe. Emigration to USA for Gomes means some kindof punishment, atonement, after loosing his faith in his values and believes.

T H E R O L E O F A R T 325

To understand Sartre and his characters we have to remember about his concept ofBeing-for-himself. The Being-for-himself is always seeking to move beyond itself,is always anxiety about his/her decisions, and radical insecurity about his being.Therefore both Mathieu and Gomes are convicted to uncertainty.

Nevertheless the comparison between Sartre and Camus always links to conflictbetween them. It was not only Camus, who discussed with Sartre, in Rebel, in hisessays, but firstly it was Sartre who criticized Camus’ attitude. The philosophicalroads of these two thinkers part, but some of their concepts remain the same. TheRoad to Freedom, as The Plague is a response to events and the situation of theworld. Both books illustrate the situation of the man in the world. In other words,we can say, that they are examples of Heideggerian category of being-thrown-into-the-world. Both Sartre and Camus emphasize man’s action as a very importantoccurrence—the only way to respond to the world and the only one possibility toput together the values in the universe.

The role of the art has its very special influences. Sartre and Camus struggle withcreative act and fate of the man, pointing out engagement in art as an important toolin man’s thinking and understanding. Thus, according to these philosophers the artallows to understand not only the world, which by artistic view gains values andmeaning, but also permits to understand the man himself/herself. The special caseof such role of the art is in The Fall by Albert Camus. Burton M. Wheeler analyzesthis book focusing on the role of the Van Eyck’s altarpiece.

Van Eyck’s The Adoration of the Lamb in the Cathedral of Bavon, Ghen, is veryrich with many presentations, symbols, and meanings. In The Fall Camus refersto The Just Judges. According to Wheeler Camus in his literature always refersto the events or facts which he had experienced or about which he had heard.18

In his creation Camus is sometimes like a journalist, who puts in a special orderthe phenomenon of the world. This is why we can suspect that Camus refers tofacts (the altarpiece of The Just Judges was stolen). Nevertheless, more impor-tant is the fact of symbols and representations which we can find in Van Eyckework. In other worlds, in this case, the inspiration of the life and its real events islinked with the inspiration of the symbols and meanings rooted in the masterpiece ofthe art.

The figure of John the Baptist, who is the patron saint the Ghent, correspondsto the main character of the novel: Jean-Baptiste Clamence. Camus describe Jean-Baptiste Clamence as the judge-penitent, repentant for his inauthentic life, and inthe same time is playing an ambiguous role for other people, as for his interlocutor.Clamence as the judge-penitent separates himself form his previous life, and hisattitude, and what’s more he sentences himself to banishment. From Paris’ lawyerhe transforms himself into judge-penitent in Amsterdam, who helps criminals, andkeeps in hiding the stolen The Just Judges.

There is some irony, and some special, profound meaning in building the parallelbetween Jean Baptiste Clamance and the Saint John the Baptist. “By the stagnantcanals, Clamence’s baptism is to confession that there is neither hope of innocencenor rebirth. The solution is a method – that of judge-penitent.”19 Clamence in hismonologue makes in the same time a confession as well as he preaches. Here,

326 J O A N N A H A N D E R E K

Clamence reveals the problem of existence—man’s hopeless search for the true andhimself/herself.

In The Fall Camus many Times refers to Van Eyck’s masterpiece. This referenceis given in the dimension of Christ and Christian values. Deity, Supreme Judge, butalso forgiveness, mercy—these are the values and elements, which justify Christand Christianity in culture. For atheist Camus, Supreme Judge performs withoutGod and Transcendence Level. It is just the man who can take notice of the problemof his/her existence, and solve it by himself/herself. Thus it is just Clamence whois taking the role of the judge-penitent and can judge himself. Because it is onlyClamence who can find some meanings and rights in his life. As Camus shows,there will be no other Supreme Judge. As a consequence Clamence remains withhimself, knowing that the water will be always to cold to jamb in and rescue thegirl.20 Judge-penitent knows that everything what he has done will remain withhim, in his consciousness, in his conscience.

Looking at The Adoration of the Lamb Clamence realizes (and with him read-ers) that his life is connected with searching for the right and valuable existence.Moreover Clamance realizes that his reference to The Lamb always returns him tohimself. Clamance, as he mentions himself, took the role of the Pope in the prisoncamp. Therefore in imprisonment Clamance tried to help, but also to govern otherprisoners. Very soon he learnt that to be the Pope—to be somebody who knowsthe rules and values—is impossible. In Amsterdam Clamence returns to his campepisode to enlighten the fact of man’s inability of such knowledge. But he prefershis escape to Amsterdam from the emptiness of his past life. Knowing that there isno God and that man cannot take god’s place Clamance is changing from his earlierchoices and earlier attitude.

Thus, following Wheeler, “Clamance has effected a complete reversal of the tra-ditional role of the Baptist. Clamence is Elijah without a Messiah, an empty prophetfor shabby times. He finger is raised toward a threatening sky rather than towardthe Christ (. . .). He has chosen the flat, negative landscape of Amsterdam for hisprophecy. He seeks only confession, not repentance, and fears the bitter waters ofhis baptism.”21

In The Fall readers can find the role of Van Eyck’s masterpiece—as the artcan influence man’s consciousness. On the other hand, The Fall as the creation ofCamus, reveals the problem of authenticity and struggle for man’s being. ThereforeThe Fall should be considered a very special example of engaged literature.

Department of Philosophy, Jagiellonian University, 31-044 Kraków, Polande-mail: j.handerek@iphils.uj.edu.pl

N O T E S

1 Sartre, J.P. 1960. The words, 31. Paris.2 Brée, G. 1979. Canus and Sartre. Crisis and commitment, 60. New York, NY.3 Sartre, J.P. 1960. The words, ibid., p. 42.4 Will, F. 1961. Sartre and the question of the character in literature. The Journal of Aesthetics and ArtCriticism 76(4): 458.

T H E R O L E O F A R T 327

5 Brée, G. Canus and Sartre. Crisis and commitment, ibid., p. 169.6 Sartre, J.P. 1960. What is literature?, 65. Paris.7 Camus, A. 1960. The Rebel, 38. Paris.8 Durfee, H.A. 1955. Camus’ challenge to modern art. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism14(2): 201.9 Brée, G. Canus and Sartre. Crisis and commitment, ibid., p. 75.10 Ibid., p. 75.11 Ibid, p. 76.12 Ibid., p. 68.13 Ibid., p. 251.14 Camus, A. Essay, (Paris), p. 160.15 Brée, G. Camus and Sartre. Crisis and commitment, ibid., p. 138.16 van Meter, A. Existentialism and the art. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 9(3): 255.17 Mróz, P. 1992. Drogi nierzeczywistosci, 105. Kraków: Uniwersytet Jagiellonski.18 Wheeler, B.M. 1982. Beyond despair: Camus’ the Fall LAND Van Eyck’s “Adoration of the lamb”.Contemporary Literature 23(3): 350.19 Ibid., p. 352.20 Camus, A. The Fall, Paris, ibid, p. 38.21 Wheeler, B.M. Beyond despair: Camus’ the fall land Van Eyck’s “Adoration of the lamb”.Contemporary Literature 23(3): 351.