“L’Europe est dans un état de civilisation avancée: je veux dire qu’elle est très malade”. Crise et régénération d’un mythe chez Artaud

Abstract

This article analyzes the image of Europe in Artaud’s Mexican writings. The first and the second parts set the purpose and the basis of this study: despite the critical attitude towards Europe, its culture and its civilization, which emerges from an insistent comparison with ancient and modern Mexico, this specific set of writings, strictly related to Artaud’s journey to the country, underlines a complementary and utopic vision of Europe that organizes his discourse. The third part focuses on the writer’s negative perception and image of Europe, while the fourth shows that this image is associated with that of a sick organism that can and needs to be cured. Through an analysis of the different plans and results of the comparison between Mexico and Europe, the fifth part analyzes the ideal Europe that emerges from these writings: a cured and renewed one. The sixth and last part states the conclusion: having gone to Mexico to discover its ancient myths, Artaud seems to have pursued a European one as well.

Keywords

• Antonin Artaud
• civilization
• civilisation
• culture
• Europe
• Mexico