The Immoralist

Michel and Marceline journey from Biskra to Tunis, take a boat to Malta, and then travel to Syracuse (Siracusa), in Italy. From there, they explore Italy. While Michel still feels unwell at times, he views his life after tuberculosis as a rebirth. His experiences in North Africa have changed him. His former profession, being a scholar of history, no longer interests him. Ruins that delighted and fascinated him before now only remind him of death.

Michel begins to hate his previous studies, but realizes that he doesn’t know who he is without them and needs to discover who he is. He particularly wants to find out more about the repressed self that he believes exists inside of him, beneath the layers of his education and socialization. Michel starts to fully enjoy life now that he is “guided by a happy sense of fatalism” (44), and focuses on building his physical strength rather than his intellectual interests.

In the city of Ravello, known for its hills, terraces, and forests, Michel explores nature. He climbs through the wooded hills to build up his stamina. He is determined to overcome his “hyperaesthesia” (46)— his extreme sensitivity to changes in temperature— by disrobing and lying down on rocks in the sun.