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Introducing Camus: A Graphic Guide
Introducing Camus portrays a man who was an intellectual in the tradition of the great French humanists, a Resistance fighter during World War II, and also a great sensualist for whom sun, sea, sex, football, and theater were the answer to life's absurdity.
176 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
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469 people want to read
About the author
David Zane Mairowitz
26 books33 followersMairowitz is a writer who studied English Literature and Philosophy at Hunter College, New York, and Drama at the University of California, Berkeley.
He is the author of the plays "The Law Circus" (1969 and "Flash Gordon and the Angels" (1971). Other works include "BAMN: Outlaw Manifestos and Ephemera 1965-70," "The Radical Soap Opera: Roots of Failure in the American Left," "Kafka for Beginners" and "Introducing Camus."
He is the author of the plays "The Law Circus" (1969 and "Flash Gordon and the Angels" (1971). Other works include "BAMN: Outlaw Manifestos and Ephemera 1965-70," "The Radical Soap Opera: Roots of Failure in the American Left," "Kafka for Beginners" and "Introducing Camus."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
November 7, 2015
This book starts with the tragic scene of Albert Camus' death and ends with one of his quotes which says dying in a car accident is a "stupid death".
Camus died on January 4, 1960 at the age of 46, in a car accident near Sens, in Le Grand Fossard in the small town of Villeblevin.
Albert Camus the prophet of absurdity of twentieth century was born on 7th November 1913, in Mondovi form parents who immigrated to Algeria as a place for their living. His father died a year later in battle of Marne during world war I. His mother who first was a house cleaner, after his husband's death came back to her mother's house shamefully. An illiterate mother who wasn't healthy. Who was always silent and never fondled him because she didn't know what that meant…he felt pity for her.
Albert Camus' last novel,The First Man, which manuscripts of it was found in a car in which he was killed in an accident, somehow is his own autobiography. A child from an emigrant family who lived in poor areas of a city. Later on this fact made him think differently about cruel colonists and low and labor class emigrants who were forced to come to another country for job.
This graphical book is a critic of his works more than his biography alone. The second investigated book is Exile and the Kingdom which is a story of a factory that after an unsuccessful strike a dark and hostile space developed between the workers and the owner. The space of this novel is symbolically an indicator of the cultural situation in Algeria which was a mixture of Arabic, French and Spanish labors. Camus loves this picture of Algeria. And this picture later on would have a great effect on his political decisions.
Unlike all other French writers, Camus did not have an intellectual past. In their house there wasn't a big library. Their grandmother governed on them strictly and made them work after school. The young Camus was in love with football and he himself said later that all his understandings of morality were formed on football ground. He had to leave football in 1930 because of his body's betrayal: He was diagnosed with tuberculosis.
Unlike many people of his century he had certain expectations from communism and never turned to Marxist – Leninist philosophy. For him, a political party was limited only to balancing the Algerian Arabic labor's situations.
In 1938, Camus started working as an ethical journalist in Alger Républicain newspaper. He wrote of injustices. He had a special style in journalism. He used first person verbs and never forgot to sympathy with the oppressed people.
By approaching war, Camus volunteered as a soldier but was rejected because of his TB disease. He couldn't do anything else but journalism. At that time Alger Républicain was closed and he became the editor of Soir Républicain newspaper. But after a while he was "proposed" by the governor to leave Algeria.
Albert Camus presence in Paris was coincided with Hitler's army entrance to soil of France. Camus started his activity at Paris Soir newspaper and it was there where he began his three of greatest works in absurd philosophy: The Stranger, The Myth of Sisyphus and Caligula.
MOTHER died today. Or, maybe, yesterday; I can’t be sure. The telegram from the Home says: YOUR MOTHER PASSED AWAY.FUNERAL TOMORROW.DEEP SYMPATHY. Which leaves the matter doubtful; it could have been yesterday.
The absurd protagonist of The Stranger doesn't have any feeling for his mother's death. Meursault smokes and drinks coffee next to his mother's coffin.
When the Nazi Germany occupied half of France, the young Camus didn't cooperate with them. At that time he performed his last modifications on his second greatest work , The Myth of Sisyphus that he was working on it for more than 5 years.
There is only one really serious philosophical question, and that is suicide.
This book wasn't written without being impressed by political situations of its own time. In fact this book was a reflection of fascism threat on global system. The main question of Camus is that without any moral and spiritual reference, what should be done against the huge wave of irrationality?
The third work of Camus is Caligula which was known as his most famous play. Caligula can be a symbol of Hitler . When he realized that the world is absurd starts a mass destruction. Unlike Muersault who couldn't change the world, Caligula was so powerful.
Since 1942, Camus joined Combat, an anti-fascist group and worked as a journalist in a newspaper with the same name. The first issue of the newspaper in Paris with its famous headline, From Resistance to Revolution had a strong unsigned article in its first page:
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.
The clear rhetoric of the article revealed the author.
In 1943, the Nazis occupied the southern region of France. Camus analogizes their presence in France to Plague in his new and famous novel.
In 1945 by atomic attack of America to Japan, while many of journalists and writers were silent, Camus was the only person who had an active and clear position:
Mechanical civilization has just reached its final degree of savagery. We are going to have to choose, in a future that is more or less imminent, between collective suicide and the intelligent use of scientific conquests.
Albert Camus' friendship with Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir was formed in Café Flore. Despite his steady companionship with them, Camus never considered himself an Existentialist.
In his after war headlines, the word "rebel" is seen repetitively after "Absurd" word. This word finally became the title of a book which was published in 1951.
In absurdist experience, suffering is individual. But from the moment when a movement of rebellion begins, suffering is seen as a collective experience.
He exhibited the rebellion phenomenon first in a novel, The Plague then in a philosophical work, The Rebel and finally as a play, The Just Assassins.
After publishing The Rebel, Camus was criticized sharply followed by the famous letter of Jean-Paul Sartre that by a quarrel their friendship ended.
In Algerian war, Camus because of his attachment to that country (still his mother and sister lived there) had a discrete approach. He believed in a peaceful coexistence of French descent Algerians (that finally had to leave this country) and native Arabs. But this beliefs were denied both by many Arab and French people. He published The Guest which was related to these political situations.
The last novel by Albert Camus which was published in final years of his life is The Fall which according to many critics like Sartre is his best work.
In 1975, Camus published a book which was obviously beyond his time: Reflections on Guillotine. In this book, he called Guillotine "The sadistic essence of government". Camus writes about the death penalty as a relic of the past:
The criminal is killed because he has been killed for centuries, and furthermore he is killed according to a procedure established at the end of the eighteenth century. The same arguments that have served as legal tender for centuries are perpetuated as a matter of routine, contradicted only by those measures which the evolution of public sensibility renders inevitable.
My note:
Having read many the books mentioned above and intending to read The Rebel soon, I really didn't know that Albert Camus was such a great man…I love him.
Camus died on January 4, 1960 at the age of 46, in a car accident near Sens, in Le Grand Fossard in the small town of Villeblevin.
Albert Camus the prophet of absurdity of twentieth century was born on 7th November 1913, in Mondovi form parents who immigrated to Algeria as a place for their living. His father died a year later in battle of Marne during world war I. His mother who first was a house cleaner, after his husband's death came back to her mother's house shamefully. An illiterate mother who wasn't healthy. Who was always silent and never fondled him because she didn't know what that meant…he felt pity for her.
Albert Camus' last novel,The First Man, which manuscripts of it was found in a car in which he was killed in an accident, somehow is his own autobiography. A child from an emigrant family who lived in poor areas of a city. Later on this fact made him think differently about cruel colonists and low and labor class emigrants who were forced to come to another country for job.
This graphical book is a critic of his works more than his biography alone. The second investigated book is Exile and the Kingdom which is a story of a factory that after an unsuccessful strike a dark and hostile space developed between the workers and the owner. The space of this novel is symbolically an indicator of the cultural situation in Algeria which was a mixture of Arabic, French and Spanish labors. Camus loves this picture of Algeria. And this picture later on would have a great effect on his political decisions.
Unlike all other French writers, Camus did not have an intellectual past. In their house there wasn't a big library. Their grandmother governed on them strictly and made them work after school. The young Camus was in love with football and he himself said later that all his understandings of morality were formed on football ground. He had to leave football in 1930 because of his body's betrayal: He was diagnosed with tuberculosis.
Unlike many people of his century he had certain expectations from communism and never turned to Marxist – Leninist philosophy. For him, a political party was limited only to balancing the Algerian Arabic labor's situations.
In 1938, Camus started working as an ethical journalist in Alger Républicain newspaper. He wrote of injustices. He had a special style in journalism. He used first person verbs and never forgot to sympathy with the oppressed people.
By approaching war, Camus volunteered as a soldier but was rejected because of his TB disease. He couldn't do anything else but journalism. At that time Alger Républicain was closed and he became the editor of Soir Républicain newspaper. But after a while he was "proposed" by the governor to leave Algeria.
Albert Camus presence in Paris was coincided with Hitler's army entrance to soil of France. Camus started his activity at Paris Soir newspaper and it was there where he began his three of greatest works in absurd philosophy: The Stranger, The Myth of Sisyphus and Caligula.
MOTHER died today. Or, maybe, yesterday; I can’t be sure. The telegram from the Home says: YOUR MOTHER PASSED AWAY.FUNERAL TOMORROW.DEEP SYMPATHY. Which leaves the matter doubtful; it could have been yesterday.
The absurd protagonist of The Stranger doesn't have any feeling for his mother's death. Meursault smokes and drinks coffee next to his mother's coffin.
When the Nazi Germany occupied half of France, the young Camus didn't cooperate with them. At that time he performed his last modifications on his second greatest work , The Myth of Sisyphus that he was working on it for more than 5 years.
There is only one really serious philosophical question, and that is suicide.
This book wasn't written without being impressed by political situations of its own time. In fact this book was a reflection of fascism threat on global system. The main question of Camus is that without any moral and spiritual reference, what should be done against the huge wave of irrationality?
The third work of Camus is Caligula which was known as his most famous play. Caligula can be a symbol of Hitler . When he realized that the world is absurd starts a mass destruction. Unlike Muersault who couldn't change the world, Caligula was so powerful.
Since 1942, Camus joined Combat, an anti-fascist group and worked as a journalist in a newspaper with the same name. The first issue of the newspaper in Paris with its famous headline, From Resistance to Revolution had a strong unsigned article in its first page:
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.
The clear rhetoric of the article revealed the author.
In 1943, the Nazis occupied the southern region of France. Camus analogizes their presence in France to Plague in his new and famous novel.
In 1945 by atomic attack of America to Japan, while many of journalists and writers were silent, Camus was the only person who had an active and clear position:
Mechanical civilization has just reached its final degree of savagery. We are going to have to choose, in a future that is more or less imminent, between collective suicide and the intelligent use of scientific conquests.
Albert Camus' friendship with Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir was formed in Café Flore. Despite his steady companionship with them, Camus never considered himself an Existentialist.
In his after war headlines, the word "rebel" is seen repetitively after "Absurd" word. This word finally became the title of a book which was published in 1951.
In absurdist experience, suffering is individual. But from the moment when a movement of rebellion begins, suffering is seen as a collective experience.
He exhibited the rebellion phenomenon first in a novel, The Plague then in a philosophical work, The Rebel and finally as a play, The Just Assassins.
After publishing The Rebel, Camus was criticized sharply followed by the famous letter of Jean-Paul Sartre that by a quarrel their friendship ended.
In Algerian war, Camus because of his attachment to that country (still his mother and sister lived there) had a discrete approach. He believed in a peaceful coexistence of French descent Algerians (that finally had to leave this country) and native Arabs. But this beliefs were denied both by many Arab and French people. He published The Guest which was related to these political situations.
The last novel by Albert Camus which was published in final years of his life is The Fall which according to many critics like Sartre is his best work.
In 1975, Camus published a book which was obviously beyond his time: Reflections on Guillotine. In this book, he called Guillotine "The sadistic essence of government". Camus writes about the death penalty as a relic of the past:
The criminal is killed because he has been killed for centuries, and furthermore he is killed according to a procedure established at the end of the eighteenth century. The same arguments that have served as legal tender for centuries are perpetuated as a matter of routine, contradicted only by those measures which the evolution of public sensibility renders inevitable.
My note:
Having read many the books mentioned above and intending to read The Rebel soon, I really didn't know that Albert Camus was such a great man…I love him.
August 24, 2016
کتاب با نام " قدم اول : کامو" در ایران به چاپ رسیده. از تصادف مرگباری که به فوت کامو منجر شد شروع میشه و بعد با یه فلاش بک به سراغ اجداد کامو میره که سال ها قبل از فرانسه راهی الجزایر تازه اشغال شده شدند و سپس به زندگی کامو از تولد تا مرگ پرداخته. زبان کتاب ساده است و همراه شدنش با تصویر به جذابیتش اضافه کرده. کتاب علاوه بر این که روی زندگی در الجزایر و مهاجرت به فرانسه ، فعالیت های سیاسی علیه نازی ها و موضع گیری علیه کمونیسم ، مشاجرات کامو با سارتر و سایردیدگاه های فلسفی کامو تمرکز داره روی چندین اثر برجسته ی کامو از جمله "بیگانه" ، " طاعون" ، داستان کوتاه "مهمان" ، نمایشنامه های " کالیگولا " و " عادل ها" هم ریز میشه.
چکیده ای از کتاب:
قسمت اول
قسمت دوم
چکیده ای از کتاب:
قسمت اول
قسمت دوم
October 8, 2024
این کتاب دید کلی خوبی رو نسبت به آلبر کامو میده. مخصوصا در رابطه با عقاید سیاسی و اجتماعی و آثار این نویسنده. در مورد زندگی شخصی کامو اطلاعاتی نمیده و صرفا خیلی کوتاه چند جایی اسمی از همسر و معشوقه های کامو میده.
در کل کتاب خوبی بود. مخصوصا اینکه نسبت به اینکه هر کتاب در چه زمانه ای و در چه حال و هوای روحی و شرایط سیاسی و اجتماعی زندگی کامو نوشته شده.
در کل کتاب خوبی بود. مخصوصا اینکه نسبت به اینکه هر کتاب در چه زمانه ای و در چه حال و هوای روحی و شرایط سیاسی و اجتماعی زندگی کامو نوشته شده.
May 27, 2020
I always grade books by what their intentions are. This is a graphic bio of Camus. I got much more out of it than a biography I just read. Excellent summary and comments for young people and old dudes like me who have not reviewed Camus since college.
September 3, 2015
I was browsing the Camus books at HPB and I saw this weird little book amongst the Vintage International editions . After thumbing through it k was intrigued enough to spend the 2 bucks and give it a go. I am glad I did. It's a strange mixture of comic book and essay that is concise and at time erudite critical survey of Camus life and times, politics and writing. I was surprised with how engaging the format was.
December 9, 2011
Read this concurrently with The Stranger and The Plague. I now know a lot more about Camus than I did a month ago. He lived in perilous times (Nazi occupation, he is cut off from his home in Algeria), but did not sway from his convictions (individuals are more important than groups, revolt NOT revolution).
The thought that stays with me is: Optimism without Hope. I like it.
The thought that stays with me is: Optimism without Hope. I like it.
October 1, 2015
Definitivamente si Camus es un autor que les apasione hay que leer este libro. Habla mucho sobre sus obras y explica muchas cosas que no son tan claras de ver en sus libros, también su visión social y política. Camus era un personaje sumamente interesante y su muerte tan irónica como la vida de sus personajes. Me gustó mucho que está ilustrado, excelentes ilustraciones.
March 17, 2025
perfectly critical and comic like
June 1, 2016
No sé si me aburrí más leyendo esto o El Extranjero.
Se suponía que esta lectura tenía que ayudarme a analizar el libro que antes mencioné, sin embargo no lo hizo. Completamente inútil.
Camus definitivamente pasa a mi lista de nunca-más-leer.
Se suponía que esta lectura tenía que ayudarme a analizar el libro que antes mencioné, sin embargo no lo hizo. Completamente inútil.
Camus definitivamente pasa a mi lista de nunca-más-leer.
August 30, 2024
Introduction to Camus and his personal and literary life, interesting
March 4, 2018
"الحياة سوف تُعاش بامتلاء أكثر من حيث أنها لا معنى لها."
February 15, 2017
كتاب جيد جدا , قوي في طريقة عرضة للمعلومة وعمل مراجعة علي حساة كامو وأهم اعمالة
April 22, 2014
Albert Camus was many things, from a philosopher with his existential ideas of his absurd reality, to a revolutionary who stood against the ideals of capital punishment. The text found inside "Introducing Camus" gives you insight on who the man was and summarizes the works and essays with a illustration on each page. The book is not too educational if you are looking for a comprehensive guide to Camus' life, but it is entertaining and well written.
April 15, 2011
Not a in-depth, scholarly analysis, but exactly what I was looking for; a taste of Camus. Made me want to read more.
November 17, 2014
در هر مردِ گناهکاری، بیگناهیای وجود دارد. این امر هر مجازات مرگی را نفرتانگیز مینماید.
October 23, 2022
A sound and accessible overview of the life and works of Camus. Especially good on the attitudes and conflicts resulting from his living in two worlds, the Algerian and the French. The author makes his problematic position on Algeria understandable, though not justifiable. Also good on his anti-fascist work with the Combat group during World War II and his early calling out the failures of Marxism.
June 7, 2018
Me parece un libro bastante bueno para entender a Camus de una manera sencilla y básica, pero hasta ahí. Tiene más dibujos que texto lo cual lo hace fácil y rápido de leer, pero también hace que le falte un poco de profundidad.
Explica varios de sus libros y las connotaciones detrás de sus historias.
Me gustó.
Explica varios de sus libros y las connotaciones detrás de sus historias.
Me gustó.
November 13, 2024
Camus is complex. He lived and wrote while dealing with inner philosophical complexities. He tried to justify French colonialism in Algeria, as an Algerian by birth, and the absurdity of life in general. This book is a graphic biography, in an effort to bring to life Camus and his complexities.
February 19, 2018
One of the best graphic guides I’ve read. Great imagery, with extracts from most of his works
March 19, 2020
Makes it simple
May 16, 2020
Interesting, but why would you guide someone to a false interpretation...
October 23, 2020
যিনি লিখেছেন বেশ দরদ দিয়ে কাজটা করেছেন।
June 15, 2022
i love everything abt this book
March 8, 2024
Hard to read, despite (or maybe because of) the graphics.
January 22, 2025
absurd.
March 15, 2025
ngl this a picture book
March 19, 2017
Like the other introduction series books, this one is an easy and yet thoughtful exposure to the life, work and ideas of Albert Camus. The book wonderfully reflects Camus' complex and often ahead of time views, setting it against the personal perspectives and ethical commitments, presenting him, as other Camus studies have done, as a great French moralist, perhaps the last one!
May 14, 2010
While this isn't an indepth biography of Camus it does give life to his literary carrer as well as his life. Camus's works of ficiton and philosophy all deal and are rooted in his own life dealing with his own existence and his country. If you read Camus works and don't understand him then this book will definitely help you. If you read Camus and do understand him then this book will only aid towards your affection for him. Set alongside a graphic novelisc it allows you to see Camus through his work and his life. The other thing that I enjoyed about this book is that at the back if you've read this and decide you want to know more about him and his life it recommends the biographical books on Camus that are well written and give one more of an understanding of him as well as a list of Camus works with the recommended translations. This books it seems is more of an indepth college paper where one follows Camus life through his work, however this is far more interesting because of the dialouge(sp) created through the illustrations. I enjoyed this book very very much. I'd give it really 3 and a half stars...but since we cant do half stars here a four will do.
January 16, 2012
A beautiful introduction, if you want explanations for why I classify camus as algerian and not as french look here. if you want to understand the absurd look here, if you want to understand pessimistic optimism look here.
"And carrying this absurd logic to its conclusion, I must admit that that struggle implies a total absence of hope (which has nothing to do with despair), a continual rejection (which must not be confused with renunciation), and a conscious dissatisfaction (which must not be compared to immature unrest). Everything that destroys, conjures away or exorcises these requirements (and to begin with, consent which overthrows divorce) ruins the absurd and devaluates the attitude that may then be proposed. The absurd has meaning only in so far as it is not agreed to."-from the myth of sisyphus
"And carrying this absurd logic to its conclusion, I must admit that that struggle implies a total absence of hope (which has nothing to do with despair), a continual rejection (which must not be confused with renunciation), and a conscious dissatisfaction (which must not be compared to immature unrest). Everything that destroys, conjures away or exorcises these requirements (and to begin with, consent which overthrows divorce) ruins the absurd and devaluates the attitude that may then be proposed. The absurd has meaning only in so far as it is not agreed to."-from the myth of sisyphus
August 8, 2013
I've only read one Camus ("The Outsider", although this book would indicate it best translated as "The Stranger"), and that was some time ago, but having recently been drawn to the graphic novel format I thought I'd try this guide as it was available in my library. As it happens, I thoroughly enjoyed the format. The illustrations both inform and break up the text, and the tone is frank and intelligent throughout. I feel I know much more about Camus than I ever did and it makes me want to read the other books I have on him as well as re-read "The Outsider". In that respect, this book did exactly what I wanted it to. No doubt other works are much more in depth, but for those who want a taste of Camus' life and work I would recommended this guide as a good place to start.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews