Camus at Combat: Writing 1944-1947

by Albert Camus, Arthur Goldhammer (Translator), David Carroll (Introduction)

Paris is firing all its ammunition into the August night. Against a vast backdrop of water and stone, on both sides of a river awash with history, freedom’s barricades are once again being erected. Once again justice must be redeemed with men’s blood.

Albert Camus (1913-1960) wrote these words in August 1944, as Paris was being liberated from German occupation. Although best known for his novels including The Stranger and The Plague, it was his vivid descriptions of the horrors of the occupation and his passionate defense of freedom that in fact launched his public fame.

Now, for the first time in English, Camus at ‘Combat’ presents all of Camus’ World War II resistance and early postwar writings published in Combat, the resistance newspaper where he served as editor-in-chief and editorial writer between 1944 and 1947.

These 165 articles and editorials show how Camus’ thinking evolved from support of a revolutionary transformation of postwar society to a wariness of the radical left alongside his longstanding strident opposition to the reactionary right. These are poignant depictions of issues ranging from the liberation, deportation, justice for collaborators, the return of POWs, and food and housing shortages, to the postwar role of international institutions, colonial injustices, and the situation of a free press in democracies. The ideas that shaped the vision of this Nobel Prize-winning novelist and essayist are on abundant display.

More than fifty years after the publication of these writings, they have lost none of their force. They still speak to us about freedom, justice, truth, and democracy.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, History, Essays, Politics, France, War

384 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1947

About the author

Works, such as the novels The Stranger (1942) and The Plague (1947), of Algerian-born French writer and philosopher Albert Camus concern the absurdity of the human condition; he won the Nobel Prize of 1957 for literature.

Origin and his experiences of this representative of non-metropolitan literature in the 1930s dominated influences in his thought and work.

He also adapted plays of Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Lope de Vega, Dino Buzzati, and Requiem for a Nun of William Faulkner. One may trace his enjoyment of the theater back to his membership in l'Equipe, an Algerian group, whose "collective creation" Révolte dans les Asturies (1934) was banned for political reasons.

Of semi-proletarian parents, early attached to intellectual circles of strongly revolutionary tendencies, with a deep interest, he came at the age of 25 years in 1938; only chance prevented him from pursuing a university career in that field. The man and the times met: Camus joined the resistance movement during the occupation and after the liberation served as a columnist for the newspaper Combat.

The essay Le Mythe de Sisyphe (The Myth of Sisyphus), 1942, expounds notion of acceptance of the absurd of Camus with "the total absence of hope, which has nothing to do with despair, a continual refusal, which must not be confused with renouncement - and a conscious dissatisfaction."
Meursault, central character of L'Étranger (The Stranger), 1942, illustrates much of this essay: man as the nauseated victim of the absurd orthodoxy of habit, later - when the young killer faces execution - tempted by despair, hope, and salvation.

Besides his fiction and essays, Camus very actively produced plays in the theater (e.g., Caligula, 1944).

The time demanded his response, chiefly in his activities, but in 1947, Camus retired from political journalism.

Doctor Rieux of La Peste (The Plague), 1947, who tirelessly attends the plague-stricken citizens of Oran, enacts the revolt against a world of the absurd and of injustice, and confirms words: "We refuse to despair of mankind. Without having the unreasonable ambition to save men, we still want to serve them."

People also well know La Chute (The Fall), work of Camus in 1956.

Camus authored L'Exil et le royaume (Exile and the Kingdom) in 1957. His austere search for moral order found its aesthetic correlative in the classicism of his art. He styled of great purity, intense concentration, and rationality.

Camus died at the age of 46 years in a car accident near Sens in le Grand Fossard in the small town of Villeblevin.

Chinese 阿尔贝·加缪

Reviews

[Vaggelis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Από τα πιο σημαντικά βιβλία στην ιστορία.

Τα αντιστασιακά άρθρα του Καμου από το 1944 μέχρι το 1947 στην εφημερίδα "combat"αποτελούν μια τεράστια συνεισφορά όχι μόνο στον πολιτικό σχολιασμό και την μαχητική δημοσιογραφία-την πραγματικά μαχητική- αλλά και στην δημοκρατία καί στο αντιφασιστικό/αντιναζιστικό αγώνα.

Ένα λαμπρό μυαλό με φλογερό λόγο.

Ένα αναγκαίο βιβλίο.

4.5/5

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four stars is an average of the various things at play here:

The introductory essay by the translator is an easy 5/5. For someone studying Camus, or interested in the progression of his philosophy during the mid 40s, it's an easy 5/5. An indispensable historical document for the English speaking Camus fan. The essays themselves are very, very mixed in terms of both interest and quality. Some are among my favorite things I've ever read of Camus, especially the editorial he wrote two days after Hiroshima. But a lot of it, particularly in 1944-45, is vague polemic. The experience of just reading through it, taking out the historical context, is a 2 or 3/5.

[Tahiya · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great reprisal of published essays that appeared in the underground newspaper Combat, that was published in France during the German occupation. Albert Camus was the editor for many years and there's a strong case that most of the essays in this collection were his.
He makes some very important points and expounds on his ideas on democracy and how to define a republic as a democracy or not. As is usual for Camus, he is fearless and never hesitates to stand in a room full of people and tell them exactly where their hypocrisy lies and what to do about it. He was practically the only public voice after the liberation that came out against the policy in Algiers and put France's heels to the fire for pretending at democracy while practicing abusive and rapacious colonialism overseas.
This is a great read for our current times. If you've been keeping up with the executive orders coming out of our white-house-of-shame, you'll find these thoughts hits home.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this because I was interested in Camus's change from supporting state sponsored executions to thinking they were never justified. I'm intrigued by someone who is willing to change his mind when he sees the practical reality of his ideas. In the France of his day he thought that society was justified in executing the practitioners of arguably the worst horrors the modern world had seen. But as practiced it led to retribution killings, many of the worst perpetrators receiving minor sentences, and minor offenders receiving unjust death sentences. Camus's ability to remain flexible yet still try to instigate change is something worth emulating especially in the political climate in the US today.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

August 21, 1944
From Resistance to Revolution?
It has taken five years of obstinate, silent struggle for a newspaper born of the spirit of resistance and published without interruption despite all the dangers of clandestinity to be able to appear at last in the light of day, in a Paris liberated from its shame. Pg. 12

The French Resistance to Nazi occupation and their Vichy puppet state took many forms. Camus wrote and edited for the secretly distributed Combat. This collection of opinion pieces cannot all be definitively labeled as by Camus since most of the writings are anonymous. However, the editors compiled those articles that matched his style and sensibility, and the resulting collection resonates with defiance and hope.

Camus is often grouped in with other existentialists of his time and, even though Camus rejected that classification, his writings testify to truth over other considerations. He sought to be clear-eyed and unapologetic in the face of the worst horrors committed in the 20th century. He called out the French politicians who were complicit in occupation and subsequently ambitious in liberation. He owned France’s shame and acknowledged the long road toward redemption while at the same time refusing to be subservient to the Allies who freed France from its subservience. Despite the horrors inflicted by the German state, he saw that the future required revision and not retribution. And, despite those horrors, he believed we can make a better world if we choose because no one else is responsible for the values we hold in this world.

[Dane Cobain · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a stunning little piece of history, bringing together some of Camus’ essays that he wrote for a newspaper of the French resistance towards the end of the Second World War and shortly afterwards. They’re of historical significance just because of that, but they’re also significant because they show the evolution of Camus’ interests and beliefs over time.

When you talk about an essay collection, it’s pretty easy for people to switch off and to assume that it’s not going to be interesting. I myself have often moved essay collections into my pile of bedtime books – the books that I read a little at a time before I go to bed, just to get through them.

The good news is that doesn’t happen here, because the essays are genuinely fascinating and designed to be read and understood by the average man on the street.

[Kendra Hildreth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Camus speaks with clarity and reason, the the articles is has written provides an eloquent inside look at World War 2, as well as the problems it has caused.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a collection of Camus' writings for the French Resistance newspaper Combat at the end of World War II. These tend to get overlooked in the general Camus cannon, which is a shame because I think they're some of his best writings. It's good to see them all compiled in an English edition, and the book is layed out really well. definitely recommended.

[The Bohemian Conservative · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating collection of work. 60% of it is perhaps only of interest to hardcore historians of the period and place, as Camus is writing chiefly as a journalist of his time, discussing various acts of parliament and policies of parties etc but the other 40% contextualises a whole range of his other works in new ways. In particular, 'Man in Revolt'. You can chart his movement into the disillusionment this book represents, or at least begins with. Even through tone, you can easily notice the Socialist becoming the socialist becoming the internationalist; and an internationalist in the end who seems just as confused about the concept as those that oppose him, but clings to it strangely anyway.

The extensive footnotes are extremely useful to contextualise many of the smaller moments Camus journalises upon ... even if sometimes they dip too heavily into editorialising, particulary when it comes to Camus' movement into Internationalism; I am more than able to forgive this thoughful man of 1940s France (immediately post atomic bombs) clinging to this idea, but much less likely in 2020 to forgive Jacqueline Lévi-Valensi her enthusiastic agreements. Camus proves that he is a man who is more than capable of changing his mind about ideas when those ideas change, or they are proved failures, so just as he revised his position on Communism, he would most certainly have revised his position on Internationalism in the current climate.

[Kristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Camus' philosophy and writings in the newspaper Combat are highly appropriate for today. Until liberation, writing in the resistance publication could have resulted in death had the author been discovered. I agree highly with Camus' belief that new should be supported solely by the income from the readership. I know it is impossible, but I believe that "news" should have no advertising or sponsors. The moment a financial agreement between the media and a company is established, the existence of a "free press" disappears. Camus' greatest fear in world relations was silence. The worst terror for the world that he could imagine was the loss of the free press and a situation where opposing ideologies believe there is no reason for dialogue. We are at or close to that fact in modern politics. Kristi & Abby Tabby

[John Sperling · Rating 5 out of 5]

Camus writes with passionate clarity about the French resistance and reconstruction after the defeat of fascism. He was not writing merely for his own time, but for our time as well.

"...deputies and parties [should] acquire some of that modesty that good and genuine democracies require. After all, a democrat is a person who admits that his adversary may be right; who, therefore, allows him to speak, and who agrees to consider his arguments. When parties and people are so convinced by their own arguments that they are willing to resort to violence to silence those who disagree with them, democracy no longer exists."

[Benjamin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The perspective of a journalist in France as they went from occupied to free to having their first election to the post war trials and finally to the concerns over the weakness of the league of nations, hypocritical international politics/policy, and moneyed interests in news organizations was interesting.

[Robert Reinhard · Rating 5 out of 5]

The great writer and moralist of the last century. Forthright considerati0ns and clarity about the intersections (and inconsistencies) of freedom and justice during the harsh period ending the war and the role of journalism.

[Dylan · Rating 5 out of 5]

More about history than poetry

[Alya AlShaibani · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.45

[Danielle38 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Merveilleux combat pour la justice et le respect de la presse

[Ivanko · Rating 3 out of 5]

Politički, patriotski i humanistički zapisi Kamija u začelju Drugog svjetskog rata, izašli u listu "Combat"

[John Ledingham · Rating 5 out of 5]

A unique selection of Camus' work full of historical and biographical significances. Contains occupation coverage, post-war politics, (in not only France, but Spain, Germany, and the United States as well) Camus' developing positions on Algerian colonialism and Cold War politics, and his philosophical transition from mid-period socialist revolutionary to late-period pacifist and anti-historicist later developed in "The Rebel."

[Thom-Kun · Rating 4 out of 5]

En plein milieu du chaos, Camus l'écrivain et le journaliste commente l'actualité dans un journal clandestin de la résistance. Et l'exercice est remarquable. Face à des situations de guerre autant révoltantes autant que désespérantes, l'écrivain garde une sensibilité et une nuance qui moi m'impressionnent.
Dans "A combat", Camus propose des article absolument brillants, un travail d'information et de plaidoyer épatant, la liberté pour tous les individus, mais voilà un philosophe conscient de son parcours, de son cheminement philosophique, et qui considère sa philosophie à l'aune de son resesnti propre, ne se détachant pas complètement de sa sensibilité et ne se cloisonnant pas à une critique parfaitement raisonnée (mais potentiellement aveugle des affects propres au philosophe). En cela, il se distingue de ses contemporains et poursuit une pensée plus spinoziste que cartésienne, parfaitement consciente de ses passions et de ses racines. Français, né en Algérie dans un milieu défavorisé, son parcours détonne de celui des élites intellectuelles d'alors.
L'article qu'il rédige au lendemain du bombardement de Hiroshima est d'une lucidité épatante, quand on pense au contexte d'alors. Nous sommes dans l'émotionnel, la guerre est presque gagnée sur le front Pacifique, c'est l'euphorie, l'ennemi sera bientôt vaincu. Et pourtant, Camus propose un éditorial bouleversant. S'il est conscient de la fin imminente de la guerre, il sait que les moyens employés (le premier usage de la bombe atomique, un massacre instantané, les milliers de vies civiles balayées en un éclair), sont humainement injustifiables. Camus ne cède ni à l'euphorie ni à la rancœur envers les ennemis vaincus, et il ne peut cautionner la violence extrême des Alliés. Il anticipe une terreur nouvelle, une arme extrêmement dangereuse qui fait basculer les rapports de force dans un monde profondément bouleversé, marqué par la guerre la plus meurtrière de l'histoire, aux millions de morts, et par par le trauma d'un génocide froid et industrialisé, la Shoah.
Que ces textes soient lus et inspirent des milliers des gens, à l'esprit critique, à l'engagement, et à une conscience des passions qui nous guident et nous stimulent. C'est pour moi un des plus grands penseurs que nous ait offert le XXème siècle.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

They aren’t essays; they are Camus' columns from his time at Combat. short, terse, to the point. he was in his early 30s when he wrote these. They reflect the moral vision of resistance of that period. Camus was neither an existentialist nor a nihilist. He was profoundly sane. these columns bare-out his refusal to give in to despair. Extraordinary clarity and coherence of moral vision. he knew reason has its limits...unlike the contemporary world. didn't care for Hemingway; made requiem for a nun into a play.

Some high-lights:

After all a democrat is a person who admits that his adversary may be right, he therefore allows him to speak and agrees to consider his arguments.

This century is searching in vain for reasons to love, which it has lost.

There are many ambitions which I do not share, and I would not be comfortable if I were obliged to avail myself of the paltry privileges reserved for those who compromise with the world in order to make their way.

[Carmen Sanzo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Es un libro que me ha impresionado. La clarividencia que tenía Camus, sus planteamientos éticos en el periodismo, en la política y en la vida, tan bien escritos, con esa claridad, me han deslumbrado. Debería ser el libro de cabecera de todo aspirante a periodista o a político.
Su defensa de la República española, de la paz, la libertad y la justicia me han conmovido. El artículo “Por qué España” en respuesta a Gabriel Marcel por su cuestionamiento de la elección de España en su obra “Estado de sitio” es una joya argumentativa. Debería ser un referente moral en estos tiempos tan convulsos y polarizados que estamos viviendo en los que la mentira vale igual que la verdad.

[Luci · Rating 4 out of 5]

Parfois, on oublie la facette de Camus comme journaliste. Ce livre nous fait voir l'importance de celle-ci, ainsi que son parallelisme avec l'oeuvre littéraire de l'auteur algérien. Combat a été le journal le plus important pendant la résistance dans la clandestinité. Même si de nos jours Combat est peut-être tombé dans l'oublie, il faudrait revendiquer l'importance que celui-ci a eu pendant et après la guerre.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard to read the whole thing at once, obviously, but it's great as something I dive into once a year (when I am about to teach the Stranger), and get impassioned reading his earliest articles. Also, "Neither Victims nor Executioners" is awesome in the later editorials. Revolution! Anti war! Pro activism!

[Shay Gabriel · Rating 4 out of 5]

An uncompromising moral voice. Camus's editorials are the kinds of opinion journalism that don't get written anymore: full of heart and soul, less about policy than about principle, and deeply informed about the realities of post-war France.

And, of course, the writing is excellent.

[Gerard]

Camus really seemed to get the situation right at a time of emotional and urgent questions. But I'm open to hear criticism, especially from the left.