« Demande un esprit sain dans un corps vigoureux » – lecture d’Un assassin est mon maître d’Henry de Montherlant
“Pray for a Sound Mind in a Healthy Body” – Reading of Un assassin est mon maître by Henry de Montherlant

Summary/Abstract: Un assassin est mon maître [A Muderer Is My Master] is a novel by Henry de Montherlant which he began to write in Algiers in 1929 and published in Paris in 1971. It is the story of Exupère who, suffocating in France, is transferred to Oran as a librarian. There, he meets Saint Justin who appreciates his work. Then, the director of the Arab-Muslim library brings him to Algiers. Just as he thinks he is putting an end to his psychosis, Exupère feels that he is persecuted by his superior and his illness only gets worse. The psychic destabilization is accompanied by an untenable weakness that leads the character to his tragic end. The body is the image of the soul, which has lost its bearings. The evil that Exupère fights against in his psyche translates into suffering and physiological disruption. We propose to analyse the way in which this psychosis is prolonged by the suffering of the body. It is transformed into a literary topic, thus establishing the pathetic character as a particular type of a novelistic hero.

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