One of France's most high-profile writers, Albert Camus experienced
both public adulation and acrimonious rejection in a career cut
short by a fatal car accident in 1960. From humble origins in a
European family living in colonial Algeria, Camus established
himself as a successful novelist, with best-selling titles such as
The Outsider and The Plague coming to be translated into scores of
languages and earning him a reputation as a figure who captured the
mood of the age. It was a world dominated, he reflected ruefully,
by war and violence. The Liberation of France towards the end of
the Second World War saw him emerge as one of the country's most
prominent journalists at the newspaper Combat. But his subsequent
position-taking on the Cold War in which, not unlike Orwell, he
distanced himself from those sympathetic to the Soviet Union left
him adrift from many on the Left in post-war metropolitan France.
The worsening conflict in his native Algeria in the mid to late
1950s accentuated his sense of alienation as voices within France
increasingly called into question the country's role in North
Africa. Camus reflected on 'all the errors, contradictions and
hesitations' that had marked his involvement with Algeria but he
remained viscerally linked to the place of his birth. Edward J.
Hughes analyses the life of an author whose work and
position-taking were the subject of both intense interest and
scrutiny. 'I do not guide anyone', he was to plead in his last
interview, thereby reinforcing the paradox of a leading figure who
in private wrestled with the challenge of pursuing his craft as a
writer in an age of pressing ideological conflict.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
