Marines fantômes. Aventures et mythologies de la mer chez Henri Bosco

The interest for maritime adventure in literature, especially in the 19th and 20th century, finds its origin in the desire to oppose a society that is seen as «morass», and to valorize «vital energy» (Alain Corbin). This essay analyses the poetics of maritime adventure in the work of Henri Bosco (1888-1976). Henri Bosco, whose work is haunted in depth by the crisis of civilization (the «soleil noir»), projected to write a «roman marin», with the pirate Bras-de-fer as protagonist. In fact, he transforms this promethean figure in ferryman or phantom (Le Trestoulas (1934), L’Epervier (1963)), and opposes static figures such as the temple or the mas (L’Oustaou di Dieu) to the instable and sometimes threatening maritime theme. Those scriptural processes inform the poetic complexity of L’Enfant et la riviere (1945), very close to what can be called an art of metis (Marcel Detienne, Jean-Pierre Vernant).