2300-4681 Vers une acédie moderne de l’ennui existentiel : (auto)cannibalisme mélancolique de Catherine Mavrikakis Modern acedia of existential ruination: melancholic (self)cannibalism of Catherine Mavrikakis Novotná Šárka author Masaryk University, Žerotínovo nám. 617/9, 601 77 Brno, Czech Republic Correspondence to: Šárka Novotná sarkanovotna@yahoo.fr 29 06 2017 Numéro 11 Acédie / Honte, malaise, inquiétude, ressentiment 2017 327 350 Copyright © 2017 2017 <p style="text-align: justify;">The acedia gained many meanings during its etymological and conceptual development: first it meant the privation of care of the death people, then the privation of mental care which implied the solitude, fumbling for own fantasmas and melancholy which caused shifts the subjective visions of the world. Catherine Mavrikakis actualizes those meanings in her novel Deuils cannibales et mélancoliques, adding the relation to the body. The body becomes actor in the plays of the society: the commonwealth of people satisfied with the superficial impressions. In the same time it is the reference to death because the characters are whether “devoured” by the AIDS disease or by the melancholy which push them to the suicide. The fatality of the death and recurrent motives referring to the death condense the narration into the anxious erratic circle expressing the acedia of the current society.</p>