Correspondance

by Albert Camus, Jean Grenier

in-8, broché, 280 pp. Edition originale sans grand papier. Avertissement et notes par Marguerite Dobrenn. En très bon état.

Genres: Philosophy

288 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2003

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

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

At 17, and in his last year at the lycee in Algiers, Camus first encounter Grenier. Jean Grenier, 15 years Camus’ senior, had just recently started his teaching appointment at the Lycee Bugeaud where Camus had been attending. What followed was a lifelong mentorship, and ultimate friendship, that Camus himself often proclaimed as one of the most defining relationships in his life. Camus speaks best for himself, as he always does, regarding what Grenier has provided him and the world. Camus sent Grenier, who was living in Egypt at the time, a copy of his 1949 radio address regarding Genier’s recently awarded Prix du Portique:

He has no subject matter other than man’s solitude and his craving for the absolute. Apparently, he simply elaborated upon a lengthy subject not relevant today. But it would seem that this subject includes all others. For none of our writers has taken up so early and with such fine results the issues that are the very core of our concerns: choice engagement, action, evil, political orthodoxy. He took up these subjects with an undying spirit, showing that these new ideas had a past. Unlike so many others, he has never tried to legislate them, knowing how to take into account both ignorance and pain. A difficult current runs throughout his work. It supposes an unknown and concealed suffering which makes such an indirect confession a very emotional one. It adds a passionate resonance to the strength of the argument. And so, we love, and also admire, an exceptional work which does not seem to affirm anything but which provides us with certitudes and which, by a simple touch with the truth, succeeds in overwhelming us. pg. 260

Throughout the course of their correspondence, Camus expresses himself deeply to Grenier from whom he consistently seeks approval. Grenier, at first, speaks as to mostly practical matters and assessments of Camus’ works. Some might find Grenier’s standoffishness to reflect that of a substitute father-figure for Camus (whose own father died in WWI). However, the tone changes with the years. Toward the end of Camus’ life, the exchange is that of peers who have gained boundless respect for one another.

The letters probably would only appeal to those fascinated by Camus and Grenier. Much of their content is mundane. But there are moments where one can imagine the turning points in their thinking. For example, in February 1946, Camus reacts to the aftermath of the Hitler nightmare:

At least this has made me reflect upon many things. I will use my essay on revolt to say that this cult of history and the will to power in which we live is both an insanity and a theoretical error. It’s time to start the critique of Nietzscheanism (in its Hegelian aspect), not from the traditional viewpoint, but from a contemporary one. Out of nostalgia, no doubt, I am turning more and more toward the side of mankind that does not belong to history. If it’s true that we live in history, I know that we die outside history. Both truths must be considered. The Greeks and the Christians understood that. pg. 90-91

Likewise, Grenier continually explores his own rejection of doctrine. The inhuman aspect in the rigorous application of theoretical conclusions appalls him. His offhanded Latin quote by the Scholastics on page 148: In necessariis unitas, in dubiss libertas, in omnibus caritas (“in necessary things, unity / in doubtful things, liberty / in all things, love”) expresses also the purpose and core of Camus’ work.

As much as I appreciate this collection, I have difficulty getting past the voyeuristic quality in viewing correspondence. Camus had destroyed many of his earlier letters and those that are still in existence reveal his insecurities and his yearnings for solitude. In our tabloid culture, there is nothing that would be considered shocking. However, the intimacy expressed is from a man who was in many ways a private man. Camus poured much of himself into his published works and, by taking more than what he willingly offered, it’s hard not to feel selfish.