Quand l’amour de bienveillance triomphe de l’amour de concupiscence : Alma de J.-M.G. Le Clézio. Étude de cas
When the Love of Benevolence Triumphs over the Love of Concupiscence: The Novel Alma by J.-M.G. Le Clézio. Case study

Summary/Abstract: The Greeks distinguished between four major types of love – Storgē, the family love, Philia, the love between friends, Éros, the sexual passion, and Agápe, the love of one’s neighbour –, these facets have been the subject of numerous philosophical and theological debates throughout history. As for literature, this field has shown a particular interest in Éros, which it refers to as romantic love and which it sets out through a rich book production, nevertheless, without ignoring its desexualised, deindividualised and desinterested pair that is Agápe. In this article, we aim to analyse the interferences occurring between passionate and compassionate love, as they reveal themselves on a careful reading of Alma, a recent work bearing the signature of J.-M.G. Le Clézio. Even if the two facets of love are inseparable from each other, just as the spirit of man is inseparable from his body, in the leclezien fictional world the ethical moment dominates the passionate moment, whilst the love of benevolence triumphs over the love of concupiscence.

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