Albert Camus

Presents a biography of the author Albert Camus along with critical views of his work.

With the intrigue of a psychological thriller, Camus's masterpiece gives us the story of an ordinary man unwittingly drawn into a senseless murder on an Algerian beach. Behind the intrigue, Camus explores what he termed "the nakedness of man faced with the absurd" and describes the condition of reckless alienation and spiritual exhaustion that characterized so much of twentieth-century life. First published in 1946; now in translation by Matthew Ward.

By one of the most profoundly influential thinkers of our century, The Rebel is a classic essay on revolution that resonates as an ardent, eloquent, and supremely rational voice of conscience for our tumultuous times. For Albert Camus, the urge to revolt is one of the "essential dimensions" of human nature, manifested in man's timeless Promethean struggle against the conditions of his existence, as well as the popular uprisings against established orders throughout history. And yet, with an eye toward the French Revolution and its regicides and deicides, he shows how inevitably the course of revolution leads to tyranny. Translated from the French by Anthony Bower.

Albert Camus is one of the best known philosophers of the twentieth century, as well as a widely read novelist. This book contextualises Camus in his troubled and conflicted times, and analyses the enduring popularity of his major philosophical and literary works in connection with contemporary political, social, and cultural issues.

Keen to learn but short on time? Find out everything you need to know about the life and work of Albert Camus in just 50 minutes with this straightforward and engaging guide! Albert Camus is one of the most celebrated and influential writers of the 20th century. From humble beginnings in Algeria under French rule, he garnered international recognition for his novels, short stories, plays and essays, and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1957. Camus was also a profoundly politically engaged writer: he took part in the French Resistance during the Second World War, denounced totalitarianism and injustice in all its forms, and campaigned in favour of the abolition of the death penalty. His writing grapples with universal philosophical themes such as the ultimate meaninglessness of life, and as such still resonates with many people today. In this book, you will learn about: • Camus’s childhood and the historical context in which his books were written • The main themes and ideas explored in Camus’s work, including the Absurd and the necessity of rebellion • Camus’s influence on later writers and thinkers, both in France and abroad ABOUT 50MINUTES.COM | Art & Literature The Art & Literature series from the 50Minutes collection aims to introduce readers to the figures and movements that have shaped our culture over the centuries. Our guides are written by experts in their field and each feature a full biography, an introduction to the relevant social, political and historical context, and a thorough discussion and analysis of the key works of each artist, writer or movement, making them the ideal starting point for busy readers looking for a quick way to broaden their cultural horizons.

In 1960 a mysterious car crash killed Albert Camus and his publisher Michel Gallimard, who was behind the wheel. Based on meticulous research, Giovanni Catelli builds a compelling case that the 46-year-old French Algerian Nobel laureate was the victim of premeditated murder: he was silenced by the KGB. The Russians had a motive: Camus had campaigned tirelessly against the Soviet crushing of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, and vociferously supported the awarding of the Nobel Prize to the dissident novelist Boris Pasternak, which enraged Moscow. Sixty years after Camus' death, Catelli takes us back to a murky period in the Cold War. He probes the relationship between Camus and Pasternak, the fraught publication of Doctor Zhivago, the penetration of France by Soviet spies, and the high price paid by those throughout Europe who resisted the USSR.

Exploring themes that preoccupied Albert Camus--absurdity, silence, revolt, fidelity, and moderation--Robert Zaretsky portrays a moralist who refused to be fooled by the nobler names we assign to our actions, and who pushed himself, and those about him, to challenge the status quo. For Camus, rebellion against injustice is the human condition.

The first novel from the Nobel Prize-winning author lays the foundation for The Stranger, telling the story of an Algerian clerk who kills a man in cold blood. In A Happy Death, written when Albert Camus was in his early twenties and retrieved from his private papers following his death in 1960, revealed himself to an extent that he never would in his later fiction. For if A Happy Death is the study of a rule-bound being shattering the fetters of his existence, it is also a remarkably candid portrait of its author as a young man. As the novel follows the protagonist, Patrice Mersault, to his victim's house -- and then, fleeing, in a journey that takes him through stages of exile, hedonism, privation, and death -it gives us a glimpse into the imagination of one of the great writers of the twentieth century. For here is the young Camus himself, in love with the sea and sun, enraptured by women yet disdainful of romantic love, and already formulating the philosophy of action and moral responsibility that would make him central to the thought of our time. Translated from the French by Richard Howard