Le Journal romain 1985–1986 de Renaud Camus et la fétichisation du Journal

Abstract

Renaud Camus’s Journal romain 1985–1986 is used here for an examination of the metatextual reflections present in it that demonstrate what the diary, as a genre, can become by combining several passions: topography, homosexuality, aesthetics and culture. Here, the diary becomes an oeuvre. To bring out the specific tone of Camus’s Journal romain, this analysis highlights the different facets of his diaristic writing. In fact, Camus’s work challenges a number of concepts, including that of contemporary political correctness. This vehement diarist reveals here how writing can become life and life can become writing. In his diaristic writing he adopts a practice that straddles literature and life, and elevates it to an unprecedented level, resulting in an aesthetics of existence. Thus, the first of his many “scandals” is that of the fetishisation of the diary. Unlike some others, perhaps, this one is both amusing and illuminating.