A Place for Us: Spatial Proximities in the Correspondence between Maria Casarès and Albert Camus (1944-1959)

Abstract

This study elucidates the process of Maria Casarès’ identity construction in her correspondence with Albert Camus. I focus on how space and identity are entangled in their letters by zooming in on the correspondents’ construction of a spatial identity through their epistolary dialogue. In their epistolary relationship, Casarès and Camus exchange depictions, feelings, drawings, and postcards of the places in their host country France—such as Paris, Ermenonville in Oise, Camaret-sur-Mer in Bretagne, Cabris in the Provence—, that define them not so much individually but mostly together, as a couple. The correspondents create in their letters places and metaphors that have significance for both of them and that they can share—through memory of the past, imagination at present, or plans for the future—. The analysis gives insight in how Casarès renegotiated her identity via the epistolary dialogue with Camus on the basis of the characteristics of exile and the search for silence, creativity and truth that they shared. The study illustrates the autobiographical character of the correspondence in its dialogical context: the strong bond between the sender and recipient of the letters plays a fundamental role in stimulating and facilitating possibilities for synergetic identity renegotiations.