Synopses & Reviews
Few figures of twentieth-century French culture carry such an air of romance and intrigue as Albert Camus. Though his life was cut short by a fatal car accident in 1960, when he was just forty-six years old, he packed those years with an incredible amount of experience and accomplishment. This new entry in the Critical Lives series offers a fresh look at Camusandrsquo; life and work, from his best-selling novels like
The Stranger to his complicated political engagement in a postwar world of intensifying ideological conflict. Edward Hughes offers a particularly nuanced exploration of Camusandrsquo; relationship to his native Algeriaandmdash;a connection whose strength would be tested in the 1950s as Franceandrsquo;s conflict with the anticolonial movement there became increasingly violent and untenable.
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Ultimately, the picture Hughes offers is of a man whose commitment to ideas and truth reigned supreme, whether in his fiction, journalism, or political activity, a commitment that has led the man who disclaimed leadershipandmdash;andldquo;I do not guide anyone,andrdquo; he once pleadedandmdash;to nonetheless be seen as a powerful figure and ethical force.
Synopsis
In these original readings of Albert Camus' novels, short stories, and political essays, David Carroll concentrates on Camus' conflicted relationship with his Algerian background and finds important critical insights into questions of justice, the effects of colonial oppression, and the deadly cycle of terrorism and counterterrorism that characterized the Algerian War and continues to surface in the devastation of postcolonial wars today.
During France's dirty war in Algeria, Camus called for an end to the violence perpetrated against civilians by both France and the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN) and supported the creation of a postcolonial, multicultural, and democratic Algeria. His position was rejected by most of his contemporaries on the Left and has, ironically, earned him the title of colonialist sympathizer as well as the scorn of important postcolonial critics.
Carroll rescues Camus' work from such criticism by emphasizing the Algerian dimensions of his literary and philosophical texts and by highlighting in his novels and short stories his understanding of both the injustice of colonialism and the tragic nature of Algeria's struggle for independence. By refusing to accept that the sacrifice of innocent human lives can ever be justified, even in the pursuit of noble political goals, and by rejecting simple, ideological binaries (West vs. East, Christian vs. Muslim, us vs. them, good vs. evil), Camus' work offers an alternative to the stark choices that characterized his troubled times and continue to define our own.
What they didn't like, was the Algerian, in him, Camus wrote of his fictional double in The First Man. Not only should the Algerian in Camus be liked, Carroll argues, but the Algerian dimensions of his literary and political texts constitute a crucial part of their continuing interest. Carroll's reading also shows why Camus' critical perspective has much to contribute to contemporary debates stemming from the global war on terror.
About the Author
Edward J. Hughes is professor of French at Queen Mary, University of London, and the author of several books. He is the editor of The Cambridge Companion to Camus.