2022 Peter Francev Address to The Albert Camus Society, London.

Peter Francev: ‘Gushing Over Nature, or Janine’s Sexual Exhibitionism’

Abstract: For the past few years, I have been interested in the topic of Albert Camus and empathyand, rightfully so, as I am currently writing a monograph on the subject, it makes sense that I wouldbe interested in such a subject. However, for as long as I have been formally and informally studyingCamus (which is surpassing 25 years), I have always been plagued (no pun intended) by the seeminglyhard-lined interpretation that the protagonist of one of Camus’s most recognizable short stories ‘TheAdulterous Woman’, Janine has been largely contextualized as an unhappily married woman to herhusband Marcel and has an ‘affair’ of sorts that is anything but sexual. In this paper, I plan to quicklyexamine what previous scholars have said about Janine, her mental state of mind and her supposedlyadulterous actions, before I offer what seems to me a rather conventional and entirely plausible readingand interpretation of the short story, including Janine’s indeed adulterous actions. And this is not tosay that Janine cannot be linked to previous Camusian characters who are both female and aware oftheir sexuality, namely Marie from The Stranger.