Albert Camus: A Life
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Why should not individuals manage to give the world peace? We must simply begin without thinking of such grandiose aims. For Camus, the question of meaning was closely related to that of happiness — something he explored with great insight in his notebooks. Zaretsky writes:. Camus observed that absurdity might ambush us on a street corner or a sun-blasted beach. But so, too, do beauty and the happiness that attends it. All too often, we know we are happy only when we no longer are.
Perhaps most importantly, Camus issued a clarion call of dissent in a culture that often conflates happiness with laziness and championed the idea that happiness is nothing less than a moral obligation. Dressed in a trench coat, he flashed his mischievous boyish smile and proclaimed into the camera:.
Today, happiness has become an eccentric activity. The proof is that we tend to hide from others when we practice it.
In this vibrant, engaging biography of Albert Camus, the internationally acclaimed author of The Stranger, The Plague, and The Fall, French writer and journalist. In this enormously engaging, vibrant, and richly researched biography of Albert Camus, the French writer and journalist Olivier Todd has drawn on personal.
But his most piercing point integrates the questions of happiness and meaning into the eternal quest to find ourselves and live our truth:. Complement it with Camus on happiness, unhappiness, and our self-imposed prisons , then revisit the story of his unlikely and extraordinary friendship with Nobel-winning biologist Jacques Monod. Brain Pickings participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn commissions by linking to Amazon.
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Camus himself captured this with extraordinary elegance when he wrote in The Myth of Sisyphus : This world in itself is not reasonable, that is all that can be said. In one particularly prescient diary entry from November of , as WWII was gathering momentum, he writes: Understand this: we can despair of the meaning of life in general, but not of the particular forms that it takes; we can despair of existence, for we have no power over it, but not of history, where the individual can do everything.
Click image for details. Zaretsky writes: Camus observed that absurdity might ambush us on a street corner or a sun-blasted beach. Dressed in a trench coat, he flashed his mischievous boyish smile and proclaimed into the camera: Today, happiness has become an eccentric activity. There are excellent chapters on his early life in Algiers. He was born to a poor working class French family and he made his name in the colony as a novelist, playwright and journalist, not moving to Paris until when he was 27 years old.
He had been diagnosed with tuberculosis as a teenager and his health problems, which plagued him all his life prevented him from doing active service in World War II.
Albert Camus: A Life
During the war years he became editor of Combat a journal sympathetic to the resistance movement. The extent of Camus involvement in the resistance is still not clear: he claimed never to have touched a gun, but typically at the end of the war he involved himself in pleas for mercy for collaborators who came up for trial. In Paris he was a powerful figure in the literary world and his allegiances and then enmity with Sartre and many of the left wing intellectuals is well documented.
Camus led a busy life at one time he was editor in chief of Combat, a reader with the publishing firm Gallimard and desperately trying to find time for his own writing, His love life was complicated and he always had the threat of his own and his wife's ill health to sap his spirits. After his break from the circle of Parisian left wing intellectuals he felt himself to be in exile and when the Algerian war of independence loomed; as a pied-noir he felt himself even more out on a limb when he refused to endorse the FLN The Arab independence organisation.
He made a lecture tour of the USA and accepted the award of the Nobel prize; he was hardly ever out of the public limelight and always it seemed found himself tied up in knots by politics.
Oliver Todd does not lose sight of the fact that it is Camus's novels, plays, essays and journalism that is his real legacy and does well in describing his working methods, his constant re-writing, his dissatisfaction with much of his output and his contention that hard work and study got him through rather than any innate genius.
Todd manages to incorporate in his narrative, reviews and comments on the novels, plays, essays and their impact on the literary world. His narrative helps the reader to get a feel for Camus thoughts and influences and Todd takes time out to explain what Camus meant by the Absurd and how it differed from Existentialism.
Albert Camus always had an eye for the ladies and was a noted seducer of women. Understand this: we can despair of the meaning of life in general, but not of the particular forms that it takes; we can despair of existence, for we have no power over it, but not of history, where the individual can do everything. Although she was able to read lips, some people thought her mute, or mentally retarded. During the Algerian War , he kept a neutral stance advocating for a multicultural and pluralistic Algeria, a position that caused controversy and was rejected by most parties. Lucien also had difficulties with his workers. Average rating: 3 out of 5 stars, based on 0 reviews.
Albert Camus always had an eye for the ladies and was a noted seducer of women. His long lasting second marriage to Francine survived his affairs. He comes across as a man of infinite charm, who managed to juggle his women around his working life. His mistresses tended to stay with him, accepting the man for what he was, a marvellous companion with an honesty and sensibility that was tremendously appealing.
In fact honesty is a character trait that exudes from these pages. I got the feeling that Camus always tried to be honest with himself and with other people. He cared deeply about humanity and although not a pacifist would not support any group that advocated violence.
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It was Camus stand against the horrors perpetrated by the Stalinist regime in Russia that alienated him from many of the left wing groupings in Paris. Olivier Todd in a fine conclusion to his biography says about Camus His enduring human warmth and goodness embarrass some thinkers. The present book is neither an expose nor a hagiography, nor is it a compendium of Camus's good deeds. Camus could seem brusque or unpleasant, but he was more often understanding and kind. Vulnerable, he was faithful in friendship and love, despite his numerous affairs.
He gave an encapsulated view of his emotional beliefs: 'No great work The true creator always reconciles people through some part of his heart and life' Todd's admiration for the man shines through and this is no bad thing for a biographer. I also found myself agreeing with much of what Camus said and thought and so I am eagerly looking forward to reading some Camus over the coming year.
This is a very good biography and at just over pages it gives a well rounded portrait of the man and his works.
- Albert Camus: A Life by Olivier Todd, Paperback | Barnes & Noble®;
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Unhesitatingly recommended for anyone wishing to get to know more about Albert Camus before, or while reading him. My only quibble is, that although Camus is extensively quoted there are no references or notes as to where they originate from. A minor quibble with a biography that I rate as 4. Albert Camus: A Life is an uneven biography, which provides very little critical analysis of Camus' writings and philosophy, and overemphasizes his numerous affairs, marital problems, and petty squabbles with Sartre, de Beauvoir and other writers.
A Life Worth Living — Robert Zaretsky | Harvard University Press
The best parts of the book are its discussions of the creation of L'Etranger and La Peste, but most of the rest of the book was trivial and a chore to read. Fairly comprehensive biography with some enlightening episodes, but continuously repeats itself, presenting ground already covered as if it were new. Poor writing or bad editing I don't know, but it's awfully annoying! Here at Walmart. Your email address will never be sold or distributed to a third party for any reason.
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