The Essay

The novelist and poet Michèle Roberts, half French, has been considerably influenced by existentialist literature. Her essay begins with an examination of Raymond beating up his nameless girlfriend in Camus's 'L'Etranger' - and getting let off by the police - then moves on to the works of Simone de Beauvoir and a discussion of feminism as a politics. She considers, too, existentialism as it appears in Madeleine Bourdouxhe, and how she has learned from both these writers.Producer: Julian MayThe Existential Me was first broadcast in November 2013 to mark the centenary of the birth of Albert Camus.