Extract
[...] We must not judge the world around us too quickly or we might well be the victims of the irony of those around us. It is therefore with lucidity and irony that writers denounce the dysfunctions of our world: slavery, war, foolishness . By sometimes making us ridiculous in our own eyes, they push us to react, to modify our behavior, or even to revolt against this world. Literature of ideas can therefore have a real impact. In my eyes, the image, and more particularly the caricature, can have the same power of satirical denunciation of the world. [...]
[...] How can they fully express their freedom during wartime? By being clairvoyant first, so as not to succumb to believing in a fate that has befallen the nation: one must believe that war can be avoided and that the journalist has a role to play in enabling the population not to give in to despair or fatalism. They must also resist any temptation to propagate false discourse, verify facts to only propose to the reader those that seem true. They must help the public to take a critical look at the world: every piece of information must be verified, authenticated, and commented on. [...]
[...] They denounce the inequalities of our society. This is the case of La Boétie, in his essay De la servitude volontaire. A king has all the rights, concentrates all the powers, thinks it is normal that his people die for him and the people say nothing. The notion of 'voluntary servitude' does not even seem contradictory to him, so accustomed is he to this state of affairs. Another form of involuntary servitude is denounced in the 18th century by Montesquieu in 'De l'esclavage des nègres', an excerpt from his essay De l'esprit des lois: it is the deprivation of the freedom of men who are exploited for ethnic or economic reasons. [...]
[...] Montaigne, in his essay 'Des boiteux', attacks the stupidity of men, which pushes them to believe what they see without verifying the facts. By taking a critical look at the world, we can make it better. Literature allows us to consider the dysfunctions of the world in a lucid way, whether these dysfunctions are linked to inequalities, war, or stupidity. To make us understand the absurdity of our actions, many authors use irony. Irony, according to Camus, is a terrible weapon against the powerful. In fact, some do not understand it - this would be the case of Hitler, according to Camus. [...]
[...] They must be lucid, not afraid to face the truth, even if it is unpleasant, and may use irony to confront their audience with the truth. Since the 16th century, writers practicing literature of ideas have sought to describe the world as it is to open our eyes to its dysfunctions. How has their sometimes satirical clairvoyance allowed readers to change their view of the world? I will first examine the subjects concerned by the writers' clairvoyance and then seek to measure the place occupied by irony in their argumentative strategy. Writers have a lucid view of the world. [...]
