Albert Camus

D. Zaretsky Robert

Description

Like many others of my generation, I first read Camus in high school. I carried him in my backpack while traveling across Europe, I carried him into (and out of) relationships, and I carried him into (and out of) difficult periods of my life. More recently, I have carried him into university classes that I have taught, coming out of them with a renewed appreciation of his art. To be sure, my idea of Camus thirty years ago scarcely resembles my idea of him today. While my admiration and attachment to his writings remain as great as they were long ago, the reasons are more complicated and critical.-Robert Zaretsky On October 16, 1957, Albert Camus was dining in a small restaurant on Paris's Left Bank when a waiter approached him with news: the radio had just announced that Camus had won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Camus insisted that a mistake had been made and that others were far more deserving of the honor than he. Yet Camus was already recognized around the world as the voice of a generation-a status he had achieved with dizzying speed. He published his first novel, The Stranger, in 1942 and emerged from the war as the spokesperson for the Resistance and, although he consistently rejected the label, for existentialism. Subsequent works of fiction (including the novels The Plague and The Fall), philosophy (notably, The Myth of Sisyphus and The Rebel), drama, and social criticism secured his literary and intellectual reputation. And then on January 4, 1960, three years after accepting the Nobel Prize, he was killed in a car accident. In a book distinguished by clarity and passion, Robert Zaretsky considers why Albert Camus mattered in his own lifetime and continues to matter today, focusing on key moments that shaped Camus's development as a writer, a public intellectual, and a man. Each chapter is devoted to a specific event: Camus's visit to Kabylia in 1939 to report on the conditions of the local Berber tribes; his decision in 1945 to sign a petition to commute the death sentence of collaborationist writer Robert Brasillach; his famous quarrel with Jean-Paul Sartre in 1952 over the nature of communism; and his silence about the war in Algeria in 1956. Both engaged and engaging, Albert Camus: Elements of a Life is a searching companion to a profoundly moral and lucid writer whose works provide a guide for those perplexed by the absurdity of the human condition and the world's resistance to meaning.

Sujets

• History of Europe

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 15 janvier 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9780801460296
• Langue: English

Extrait

A L B E R T CAMUS

A L B E R T

CAMUS

ELEMENTS OF A LIFE

R O B E R T Z A R E T S K Y

C O R N E L L U N I V E R S I T Y P R E S S

I T H A C A A N D L O N D O N

Copyright © 2010 by Cornell University

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.

First published 2010 by Cornell University Press Printed in the United States of America

Book design by Scott Levine

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data Zaretsky, Robert, 1955–  Albert Camus, elements of a life / Robert Zaretsky.  p. cm.  Includes bibliographical references and index.  ISBN 9780801448058 (cloth : alk. paper)  1. Camus, Albert, 1913–1960—Criticism and interpretation.  PQ2605.A3734Z97 2010  848'.91409—dc22  2009034850

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Cornell University Press strives to use environmentally responsible sup pliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetablebased, lowVOC inks and acidfree papers that are recycled, totally chlorinefree, or partly composed of nonwood fibers. For further information, visit our website at www. cornellpress.cornell.edu.

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Frontispiece—Kurt Hutton/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

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F O R T E D E S T E S S

C O N T E N T S

Acknowledgments ix

Regarding Camus 1

1939: From County Mayo to Kabylia 17

1945: A Moralist on the Barricades 47

1952: French Tragedies 79

1956: Silence Follows 120

Epilogue 151

Notes 161

Index 177

A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S

This small book is the work of many people. At the University of Houston, the provost, John Antel, and the dean emeritus of the Honors College, Ted Estess, conspired to provide me with a semes ter’s leave that allowed me to meet my deadline. William Monroe, dean of the Honors College, and Joseph Pratt, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, also offered critical support. Colleagues at Houston—Sarah Fishman, Ted Estess, and Dorothy Baker—read and commented on parts of the manuscript, as did my friend John Scott. My French publisher, David Gaussen, has been an enthusiastic and sharpeyed reader. Jeffrey Isaac spoke up for the book when it was still just an idea, while David Carroll saved me from making a number of historical and textual errors. My copy editor Jane Todd did a superb job, as did Cornell’s editorial team, led by Susan Specter and Susan Barnett. Peter Potter has, as always, gracefully balanced the demands of friendship and criticism. This is no less true of my wife, Julie Zaretsky: she knows how much I owe her. Finally, I am indebted to Tzvetan Todorov, Alice Conklin,

x A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S

and David Mikics. Despite their own busy lives, they read and re read the entire work, sharing their excitement and hesitations, en couragement and doubts, insights and corrections. They made this a far better book than it otherwise would have been, and I alone am responsible for the remaining weaknesses. For more than twenty years, my friend and mentor Ted Estess has shown those around him what it means to attend to the world and to others. I dedicate this book to him.