In search of the lost place: from the text of Julius Caesar to the writing of Claude Simon's "The Battle of Pharsalus"

The battle of Pharsalus, which was a decisive stage in the death of the Roman republic, has got no name in Julius Caesar and is the subject of certain confusions in ancient literature. We try to show here how Claude Simon, in La Bataille de Pharsale (1969) takes advantage of this uncertainty and its potentialities by amplifying indistinction. His character seeks to find the battlefield on the ground, relying on the text of Julius Caesar and on guides, but he does not arrive at certainty. However, the quest gives rise to a problematic work where layers of individual and collective memory are superimposed; and it is up to the reader to structure the chaos. The ancient text is not then a dead letter, but, generator of the quest, from it memories emerge and writing arises.