[(Albert Camus in New York)] [by: Herbert R. Lottman]

by Herbert R. Lottman

When Albert Camus arrived in New York he was all but unknown on foreign shores -- our shores for example. The Stranger, his first influential novel, was to be published only during his American visit. University specialists knew something about him, and some were already great admirers, as were a handful of francophile journalists. But in Paris Camus was a full blown hero, a young and brilliant author of eminent works, a likable champion of the Resistance. His relative obscurity in New York made him totally accessible, added intensity to his brief stay, for those fortunate enough to meet him then, and for us now as we reach back to recreate those days.

Genres: Biography

Paperback

Published August 1, 2001

About the author

Herbert Lottman was an American journalist and author who spend most of his life in France.
He majored in English and biology at the University of New York, graduating in 1948 and earned a master’s in English from Columbia in 1951.
In 1956 he moved to Paris and became the manager of the Paris branch of the publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux. He also was writing for Publishers Weekly for four decades and wrote a novel, Detours From the Grand Tour.
But he is most reknowned for his biographies on French personalities and his writings on French intellectual life.

Reviews

[Brent Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Albert Camus was a French-Algerian journalist, playwright, novelist, philosophical essayist, and Nobel laureate. He was born November 1913 and died in January 1960. 

His first influential novel, "The Stranger", was released at the same time that the Cultural Relations Section of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent him on a trip to represent the French Government in the United States.  

Camus' arrival in the United States had been anticipated by a full-page article in the New York Herald Tribune Weekly-Book Review. His book "The Stranger" was already in print in France under the name L'Etranger. 

The book, "Albert Camus in New York" is like a chapter from Herbert Lottman's 848 page biography of Camus.

In the lectures he gave on his trip he was often asked about his philosophical point of view, which he labeled as "Absurd-ism".  Sartre, an existentialist, had reviewed The Stranger and he was often confused with Camus by Americans.

Wherever Camus went he was asked if he was an existentialist. He didn't seem to like being asked and he always said no. 

More on this book and Sartre & Camus at the web site www.connectedeventsmattter.com

[Edward Pashkov · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a short and informative summary of Camus' trip to New York in the Spring of 1946. He saw lots and it is hard to tell how exactly he liked New York. At first he found it cold and inhuman but after the crowds and lectures and meeting people he felt a kindness there he didn't anticipate. France was gloomy and New York was too happy, he thought a synthesis of the two would do well.

I read this book after a Participant at my current job spoke to me about being in New York at the same time Camus was there! Furthermore she was an instructor of French Literature and knew his writing well. Did she run into him then? Was she swayed by Camus's charm? She didn't say exactly. But she did hand me this book about his trip. I read it along with Myth of Sisyphus.
Bonny Doon, CA.
9/9/2025

[Eva · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Another old woman plays the drums, and she resembles an owl, and some evenings one feels like knowing her life story, at one of those rare moments where geography disappears, and when solitude becomes a somewhat disordered truth”
- I’ll just leave this here.