Between Literature and Philosophy: Existentialism of the Mediterranean Circle. Albert Camus and Antun Šoljan

Mediteranska misao Alberta Camusa i egzistencijalistički roman Antuna Šoljana pokazuju sličnosti na više razina, kako na tematsko-idejnom planu, tako i na planu strukture, a konačno i onom osobnog angažmana. Na tom tragu ćemo naznačiti pitanje odnosa prema drugim egzistencijalističkim misliocima, pitanje mogućnosti govora o mediteranskom egzistencijalizmu te pitanje mogućnosti govora o prisutnosti filozofije u suvremenoj hrvatskoj egzistencijalističkoj književnosti. Pritom se služimo analizom teksta, a problematiziramo sljedeće: odnos prema neizvjesnosti egzistencije (apsurdu), odnos prema nihilizmu i filozofiji povijesti (Povijest nasuprot Prirodi uz paralelno pitanje tzv. negativnog nihilizma) te odnos prema kurentnim ideologijama praćen vizionarskim, novim političkim rješenjima (kod Camusa idejom federacije i svjetske vlade, a kod Šoljana idejom kantonizacije Europe po uzoru na Švicarsku).Albert Camus’ Mediterranean thought and existential novels of Antun Šoljan show similarities at several levels, including theme and concept design, structure, and level of personal involvement. On this trace, we pose the question of their relation to other existentialist thinkers, the possibilities of Mediterranean existentialism, and the possibility of speaking about the presence of philosophy in contemporary Croatian existentialist literature. The primary method is textual analysis, and we problematize the following: relation to uncertainty of the existence (absurdity), attitude towards nihilism and the philosophy of history (History opposed to Nature as the question parallel to the problem of the negative nihilism), and critique of the current ideologies followed by visionary, new political solutions (in Camus’ works the idea of federation and world government, and in Šoljan’s writings the idea of cantonisation of Europe inspired by the Swiss model)