Vera në Algjer

by Albert Camus

Camus and his writing are intimately bound up with his native Algeria. These three essays evoke different aspects of the place. The title essay, 'The Minotaur' and 'The Return to Tipasa' are extracted from Noces (1950) and L'été (1954).

Genres: Philosophy, Fiction, Essays, Classics, France, Literature, Algeria

87 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1939

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

[Debbie Robson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been meaning to read Albert Camus for years! You know how it is. There’s an author you know you should read but just never get around to it. I think I looked at The Outsider a few years ago and decided it was a bit impenetrable. I also have trouble understanding the nuances of existentialism (although Camus says he wasn’t one), so when I discovered my Penguin 70s copy of Summer in Algiers I thought, ah now, a perfect introduction!
Summer in Algiers contains three essays - the title essay, The Minotaur or The Stop in Oran and Return to Tipasa. Summer in Algiers was evidently written in 1936 and for me is about the people, their lifestyle and the place - Algiers in summer. It is about knowing all this fully: “In Algiers, one loves the commonplace, the sea at the end of the street, a certain volume of sunlight, the beauty of the race.”
Truthfully, I got a bit lost in the second essay but I love his writing on Oran and the desert. “The streets of Oran are doomed to dust, pebbles and heat. If it rains, there is a deluge and a sea of mud. But rain or shine, the shops have the same extravagant and absurd look. All the bad taste of Europe and the Orient has managed to converge in them.” And of the desert he writes: “There is something implacable about the desert. The mineral sky of Oran, her streets and trees in their coating of dust - everything contributes to creating this dense and impassable universe in which the heart and mind are never distracted from themselves, nor from their sole object which is man. I am speaking here of difficult places of retreat....” Wow and typing that last line I’m drawn back into his work. I think these essays, particularly this middle one need several readings to appreciate the full impact of Camus’s thinking. Note to self - read this essay again.
And then we come to the last essay, for me a truly mind blowing moment! I wasn’t prepared for Return to Tipasa. Firstly for it to read so poetically - the lyrical cadences, the ebb and flow of the language is amazing and for this reader at least, completely different from the preceding essays. And secondly, to move me like it did. Here is a heartfelt and surely still valid response to the problems of humanity in the world today. Read it, as the cliche goes, and weep. This reader did. Highly recommended.

[سلطان · Rating 4 out of 5]

أي سحر في لغة كامو وأسلوبه في حديثه عن ذكرياته؟
بعض فصول هذا الكتاب أشبه بقصائد عظيمة في وصفها المكان بأدق تفاصيله، الروائح، الألوان، الظلال، البشر، الوجوه، الأصوات، الليل والصباح والنهار والحرارة والبرودة.
يكفي قراءة فصل: العودة إلى تيباز لتسحرك لغة كامو ووصفه.
هذا الكتاب يستحق القراءة

[Mohammed Algarawi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Made me want to visit Algiers in the summer and take a stroll on the beach. Oh wait, scratch that. I'm an Arab. Don't wanna get shot by some random apathetic amoral Stranger.

[Andrei Tamaş · Rating 3 out of 5]

Camus a scris pentru cei însetați de suferință. Nu știu, dar pe mine scrierile lui mă deprimă, mă fac să simt că degeaba trăiesc pe lume, că totul e absurd și irelevant. În fapt: că nu merită să trăiești!

Uneori, ca să înțelegi lumea, trebuie să te întorci de la ea; pentru a-i servi mai bine pe oameni, trebuie să-i ții o clipă la distanță.

Orașele pe care ni le oferă Europa sunt prea pline de freamătul trecutului.

[Spencer Fancutt · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm sure some people love reading Camus. I'm sure there are people who read,

"For those who are too uneasy about themselves, their native land is the one that negates them. I should not like to be brutal or seem extravagant. But after all, what negates me in this life is first what kills me. Everything that exalts life at the same time increases its absurdity. In the Algerian summer I learn that one thing only is more tragic than suffering and that is the life of a happy man. But it may be also the way to a greater life because it leads to not cheating."

and think, "Whoa, deep." I just think, "What complete bollocks."

[Gabrielė Bužinskaitė · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Not that one must be an animal, but I find no meaning in the happiness of angels. I know simply that this sky will last longer than I."

Blazing sun, beaches, young flesh, sex, as well as mind-numbing reality of life and, of course, the deep nostalgia (...for what?). It is a descriptive, image-creating essay of summer life in Algeria, that focuses greatly on working class people and the love for the commonplace. Unfortunately, not a very smooth read.

[Keen Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars!

This is a short, lively and engaging read which does an admirable job of selling the beauty and sights of mid-20th Century Algeria. Not many books can boast that…Camus makes for nice company and he really brings the simple things alive and I actually encountered a similar sensation yesterday after work when wondering through the sunny streets, soaking up all the sights, scents and town on the way to a xmas work do of sorts...so there you go...

[Julie Brochmann · Rating 2 out of 5]

god i varmen men feels like reading joan didion - south and west, hvor man tydeligt kan mærke at forfatter overhovedet ikke er tilknyttet nok til stedet; alle observationer om geografi og demografi er kølige og kun de eksistentielle tanker giver liv.

[Era · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ti besh review filozofit dhe njekohesisht shkrimtarit tim te preferuar nuk eshte edhe aq lehte..edhe pse jetoi dhe veproi ne France ai nuk e harron vendin ku e ka prejardhjen,ku i shpalos kujtimet e tij ne cdo aspekt qe nga muret e qytetit e deri tek dyluftimet qe beheshin ne shesh.

[jayden yau · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5, camus has a way of writing odd shit that doesn’t make a lot of sense but then making up for it in the end with beautiful prose and a somewhat clear argument. either way this was a cute little book about algiers and i found it beautiful nevertheless

[M Sid · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before starting this book I had long ago finished everything Camus had ever written (and Sartre for that matter). To be very honest I didn't know this book existed until Alain de Botton suggested it to me on a Facebook thread about homesickness. And this was my only clue and the only thing that prepared me slightly for what was to come.
For 45 pages I was reading a pleasant writing style about Algiers and Oran, being from Greece myself and having grown up in the same skirts of the Mediterranean (opposite sides) it was relatable and super beautiful two chapters. Slow at times and perhaps a little boring at passages, and then I reached the last chapter "Return to Tipasa". Even from the quote of Medea placed on top of it I knew this was what Alain had told me to read. I left Greece and the warm Mediterranean at the tender age of 18 (Camus says at 20 himself) and moved to Western Europe (Camus to France which he keeps referring to as Europe). In Greece we always make the distinction between Greece and Europe as if it is not a part of it. So it was as if I was reading my diary. From the first paragraphs my eyes went misty and my nose sniffly. This didn't stop until hours after I had finished the last chapter. It was like an explosion of emotion after 45 pages of calm. Totally unexpected and inherently moving. It made me want to finish my memoirs. Moreover it is simply written yet so powerful. It is not difficult to understand but it is full of too much wisdom (yes, too much, if you are 20 you won't bear it). I am forever grateful to Camus for writing this piece and to Alain for letting me know it exists.
I only gave it 4 stars for the first 45 pages. The last few are beyond grading.

[Dawson · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s clear that Camus has a love-hate relationship with Algiers. It’s a place for the young, and where he is constantly in awe of the sparse beauty of the land and the people. And yet he senses the foreboding emptiness of its life; a kind of sad hopelessness that is inevitable in a land where there is “nothing on which to hang a mythology, a literature, an ethic or a religion, but stones, flesh, stars and those truths the hand can touch”.

It’s a fairly melancholy essay, one which can’t seem to decide between the two modes of life it presents. “In the summer of Algiers I learn that only one thing is more tragic than suffering, and that is the life of a happy man”.

[Verena Wachnitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

"In the middle of winter, I discovered that there was in me an invincible summer". How relevant, essential. Camus is a pleasure to read. In these three short essays we are reminded of his unmatched talent, his powerful and expressive prose. He carries us to distance cities and places. The reader shares his memories and perspectives. It's not his best, but there are pearls of wisdom and unforgettable moments that readers are likely treasure.

[Mary Arkless · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring! It took me all day, while at the beach, to read these 54 pages.



He does describe young, beautiful people well, but that isn't enough to save this book.

[Ingrid Sinclair · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best 55 pages of travel writing you are likely to read. And reread. Exquisite.

[Catalina Alvarez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not an easy book to read, but reading Camus it's always a pleasure.

[Joaquin Harrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up for only 99p as o have always wanted to get into Camus. Having not enjoyed ‘exile and the kingdom’ a collection of his short stories, I was apprehensive on reading tho, however, being only short I thought it would be a nice re-introduction to his work. I was surprised in the first essay at his writing style, which at first felt a little disjointed for me. However moving into the second and third essays I was loving his descriptions of Oran, and the impact places have on one’s life.

[Rose · Rating 2 out of 5]

but at what cost, albert?

[Sam Chorley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Summer in Algiers constitutes a small collection of essays that explore the beauty and absurdity of the human condition; set in Camus’ birthplace of Algeria, his discussion of such themes draw upon the intricacies and intimacies of the body that encounters, flows, intertwines with place. Principally, Camus proffers essays that are both intelligent and thought-provoking, and often prompts the reader to further explore and unpack their own relationship with those places deemed meaningful, vis-á-vis their own life.

Adopting a critical perspective, it is perhaps important to question any broader contextual changes since the time of writing, given that Camus composed these essays in the 1930s/1950s. It would be interesting to situate the descriptions, accounts, ideas within a contemporary Algeria (indeed, Camus often makes reference to a certain “epoch” in the text).

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three artful pieces on homeland and country.

[Selmz · Rating 4 out of 5]

«to know that there is always a spot where one’s heart will feel at peace»

Aka hjemmelandet
Aka det boka handler om

Han skriver så pent, jeg vil spise bøkene hans
:D

[Will Perry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Return to Tipasa is one of the most beautiful things I’ve read all year

[Meiya Weeks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yummy. @Dr. Lam @Prof. Edwards “Being pure is recovering that spiritual home where one can feel the world’s relationship, where one’s pulse-beats coincide with the violent throbbing of the two-o’clock sun.” Hoping Riv & I can add a stop in Algiers!

[Cody Stetzel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The final essay in this, “Return to Tipasa,” is stunning, heartfelt, and a piece I will return to often. The rest of the collection is smart but otherwise relatively forgettable.

[Malzee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book collects three essays: Summer in Algiers; The Minotaur or The Stop in Oran; and Return to Tipasa. In the third, Camus writes, “To be sure, it is sheer madness, almost always punished, to return to the sites of one’s youth and try to relive at forty what one loved or keenly enjoyed at twenty.” In some ways, that represents my feelings reading these essays. Although one might have expected to get more out of this at 40 than 20, the essays actually spoke more clearly to a younger me, one who read with greater detachment, greater philosophy, and less mortality. But at this age, and surrounded by other literature, this feels too muted, too faded. Too much like the stones in Oran than the sea of Algiers. But maybe that’s the point. Although from the last sentence of the second essay, I’m not so sure... In any case, it still provides much fodder for continued thought. In the first essay I was intrigued by the idea that hope actually equals resignation, and living is not to resign oneself... #book4 #pocketpenguins #penguin70s

[Owen Schmidt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is, uncontested, Camus' greatest work. The dancing cool-legged girls and seaside cafes give birth to loving descriptions of the Algerian seascape. Trees, breezes, and the night sky fill each line with their cadence, and all too soon Algiers recedes those offerings.

Camus ruminates with care on the people who abide in Algiers. Those folk who he was proud to call his countrymen, and ties them with the harsh landscape where they found their culture.

I love this short story.

[Keith [on semi hiatus] · Rating 4 out of 5]

It felt a bit patchy in areas but it's his first set of essays so who can judge the man; I could see the forming of what Camus came to be. Also some subtlety in references to Baudelaire and others which I found beautiful, though maybe I was looking a little deep into the text to notice them; #oranges.

For me, nothing of what I read by him can beat where I started: The Fall. It is just a splendid piece of story-telling.

[Reena · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading The Plague, I was keen to read more Camus and Summer in Algiers provided the perfect opportunity. Camus took me back to Algeria with his poetical style and created a fun reading experience.

[Daphne · Rating 4 out of 5]

In awe of Camus once again. His reflection helped me understand a lot more his connection to Algeria and its significance int he stranger. I was pleased to see that like me, Camus has a deep soul connection to a place. If only I could express myself as eloquently as he does in "Summer in Algiers".

[Poupeh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Almost killed myself until I finished the translation into Persian and i am still not happy with the results...