The book Ecrire la mer, published by Citadelles & Mazenod, is part of a series of thematic publications that have explored various subjects such as love, nature and dreams in painting. The 500-page book includes around a hundred carefully selected and annotated texts that trace the evolution of the sea in Western literature. The author has chosen to combine the great classics of ancient literature with contemporary authors.

A European vision of the sea

The selection of authors, mainly French, also includes writers from other European countries such as Italy, Spain, Germany and England, with a particular emphasis on ancient literature.

The evolution of the sea in literature: from anxiety to poetic reverie

One of the most fascinating aspects of the book is its description of the evolution of man’s relationship with the sea, reflected through the centuries. ‘For a very long time, the sea was synonymous with danger,’ explains the author. In ancient times, the sea was seen as a terrifying place, full of mysteries and threats. Ulysses, in The Odyssey, sails among mythological creatures such as sirens and must face terrifying passages, such as those of Charybdis and Scylla. ‘The sea was horror, the anguish of being swallowed up.’

This view of the sea as a dangerous place persisted until the steam-powered marine revolution in the 18th century, which made it easier to access the sea, gradually transforming the ocean into a place of leisure and travel, as shown in Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe and Stevenson’s writings. The author notes that ‘the sea then became a place of adventure, travel and leisure’.

The sea: from infinity to poetic internalisation

In the 20th century, the literary imagination evolved further. The author discusses a transformation in the way writers perceived the ocean at that time. ‘As the sea became much more accessible, the real sea became less interesting to writers,’ he explains. He notes that the sea is now “internalised” and has become a metaphor for infinity or the human unconscious, as shown in Baudelaire’s poem ‘L’Homme et la Mer’ (Man and the Sea).

Thus, ‘the sea becomes a mirror of human consciousness.’ Baudelaire makes the ocean a reflection of man’s inner quest, a space for introspection rather than external confrontation. This inner dimension is also evident in Michelet’s work, La Mer, in which the writer links the sea to the maternal image. ‘He speaks of the sea as a mother who shapes the earth,’ explains the author, highlighting the symbolic link between the sea and birth.

The view of the sea has therefore evolved over the centuries, from fear to admiration, from the inaccessible to the introspective, while retaining a profound symbolic richness.

The sea, between immediate experience and ecological questions

In contemporary literature, the author notes a striking absence of ecological concern among writers, despite current climate issues. ‘Contemporary writers are unaware of the climate issues related to the sea,’ he observes. However, environmental issues are widely present in essayists’ work, but ‘literature still remains in the realm of immediate experience’. The author wonders whether, apart from Caribbean writers such as Chamoiseau, concern for the preservation of nature is really a preoccupation in literary works.

The contrast is striking with American ‘nature writing’ authors such as Thoreau, who had a more direct and conscious relationship with nature. In French literature, on the other hand, the relationship with nature is often more distant, as the author explains by referring to French gardens of the classical period, designed to offer a controlled view of the world.

Immersion in nature: the sea for painters

When discussing the link between artists and the sea, Daniel Bergez highlights a specific feature of painters’ work: « Nature painters, and for example the Italian painters of the 18th century, have an immediate, tactile, sensual relationship with nature. ‘ For these artists, the sea is not an intellectual abstraction, but an element experienced in its materiality. The emergence of Impressionism in the 19th century marked an important turning point: ’Painting is no longer an indoor art, it is an outdoor art, where light and sensations become central. ‘ For Impressionists such as Claude Monet, the sea became a place of ’fusion with nature, » an opportunity for an almost environmentalist experience, albeit one that was not conceptualised. Monet, in particular, painted outdoors, capturing the real light of the sea, far from the artificial light of the studio.

However, with the advent of abstract and cubist art, this immediate connection with nature dissipated. ‘Abstract art is a total forgetting of nature.’ In the 20th century, modern art seemed to turn away from the external aspect of the sea in favour of interiority, a theme that is also found in literature.

The sea, a world of opposites: life and death

‘The sea carries within it an imaginary world where life and death coexist.’ The author points out that in works such as those of Hugo, the sea becomes both a place of struggle and regeneration, of life and death. In Les Travailleurs de la mer (Toilers of the Sea), Hugo illustrates the confrontation between man and the sea, with a complex mythological dimension, symbolising both Eros and Thanatos. In these stories, the sea is a place of eternal conflict, but also a place of fulfilment.

The idea of the sea as a duality between life and death is rooted in mythology. The author evokes Greek mythology, the figure of Poseidon, god of the sea and evil, but also that of Venus, born from the sea foam, who becomes ‘a metaphor for birth and fertility’. This duality is also found in the tragic vision of the sea, as in Melville’s Moby Dick, where the ocean is both a place of quest and destruction, an ‘enigma’ that reflects the eternal struggle between humanity and the unknown abyss.

The sea, a mirror of humanity

The author concludes that the sea is a complex and paradoxical space. It is both a place of adventure and the unknown, but also a space for introspection, where man explores his own limits. Carrying within it symbols of life and death, birth and destruction, the sea continues to inspire both writers and artists, offering them an inexhaustible source of inspiration.