Albert Camus Books

For nearly 30 years I have carried this book with me virtually everywhere. No, it's not "an easy read" - but it is worth buying (owning)and treasuring - if only for the FOURTH LETTER (to a German Friend)- it is the most moving argument/declaration for humanity and choosing it that I have ever seen anywhere.

Some (like Sartre?) might call it a "rationalization". But even those who have resigned themselves to the religions of cynicism and despair - could find a remnant of fight and even "goodness" (yikes!) inside themselves. Camus' words remind us that resignation and the inevitable indifference and inhumanity that follow are the ultimate betrayals of life.

While there is nothing "cheerful" or even optimistic about these writings - you'd have to be cold-blooded, heartless and completely beyond repair or redemption not to be inspired by the wistful aspirations that Camus exudes from his admittedly battered heart and soul.

I disagree with the reviewer (who did praise this precious book) Sartre is smart - but so is Camus - and Camus exudes the humanity that Sartre can't even see or imagine.

Sartre would tell us that we always have the freedom to at least rattle our chains (at least theoretically) - but Camus has the power to inspire us to want to.

"I step onto the podium only when forced to by the pressure of circumstances and by my conception of my function as a writer." (p. 132) From the circumstances of Fascist Spain and Nazi occupied France, to the circumstances of the Hungarian and Algerian struggles for freedom, Camus' essays demand involvement, require action in the face of hopelessness. He never offers a moment's peace for couch-potato complacency. "Freedom is not made up principally of privileges; it is made up especially of duties." (p. 96)

To read these essays is to step into the world of a man who said to Christians "I share with you the same revulsion from evil. But I do not share your hope, and I continue to struggle against this universe in which children suffer and die." (p. 71) And "Perhaps we cannot prevent this world from being a world in which children are tortured. But we can reduce the number of tortured children." (p. 73)

Camus is recalled to the podium, in a day when children are tortured and die in Chiapas while most turn a blind eye and complain that sitcoms just aren't what they used to be. These essays, possibly his most accessible work, demand an active response from the modern reader. Our struggle today, although not against Nazi minions, still must echo his "There are means that cannot be excused. I should like to be able to love my country and still love justice." (p. 5) [See Jamal's Live from Death Row and Peltier's Prison Writings, elsewhere on Amazon.]

Camus is outspoken about capital punishment, too. "It is obviously no less repulsive than the crime, and this new murder, far from making amends for the harm done to the social body, adds a new blot to the first one." (p. 176) His "Reflections on the Guillotine" is the longest essay in book. He views capital punishment, even in "free" societies, as an act of totalitarianism.

Camus proclaims the call to justice and the struggle for freedom found in the Old Testament, especially in the minor prophets. But he does so in a modern context, where God is silent and man is the maker of his own destiny. Although he sees no messianic age, he proclims the hope that by continuous effort evil can be diminished and freedom and justice may become more prevalent.

Five stars for courage, five stars for clarity, five stars for consistency. After the abortion of democracy on December 9, 2000, every freedom and justice seeking American needs to read this book.

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This collection of essays is the most brilliant one of Camus' diverse smaller non-fiction writings. The bulk of this book concerns his journalistic writings on the Algerian Revolution, Soviet Union etc. Through these essays, you understand the pain of Camus. Camus' ethics doesn't agree to mindless violence for the sake of power. He makes an impassioned plea for tolerance and humanitarian solutions to the problems of war and peace.

Camus is not necessarily logical or politically correct. His stand on the issue of independence of Algeria is a compromised position between French imperialism and Algerian aspirations for freedom during that period. However, in his passion for diagnozing the problems of his time and addressing them, he hits upon a lot of interesting insights and arguments.

Particularly brilliant for both its analysis and its conclusion is Camus' landmark long essay 'Reflections on the Guillotine' which occupies a fair part of the book. In this essay, Camus systematically demolishes all legal or quasi-moral justifications for capital punishment and answers the third aspect of the question - Whether human life is worth taking?

In his 'The Myth of Sisyphus', he had argued against self-murder. In 'The Rebel', he argued against murder and genocide. In this essay, he argues against legalized murder. But unlike his earlier works where he offered weak arguments after a brilliant analysis, here he hits the mark by demolishing the justifications for capital punishment, totally. This particular essay deserves to be considered a classic in the philosophy of law and justice.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It has provided me with the strongest, most clear-headed confidence in the face of unrelenting hypocrisy and struggle. Camus was on the side of the angels for all of the conflicts of his time, a time that saw the darkest face of humanity. His arguments for compassion and justice are utterly transfixing and revelatory, and written with a clarity and insight that are simply breath-taking.

I challenge anyone that supports the death penalty to read "Reflections on the Guillotine" and walk away with their arguments intact. In this piece Camus utterly demolishes every argument for state-sanctioned murder while defending the right to live with dignity, a right that can easily encompass the self-defense by combat necessitated by circumstance.

Camus was a moral, intellectual, and physical hero, and reading these essays one is almost overcome by his sense of humilty, justice, and compassion. His writing is so crystalline, it's almost jolting. This is a powerful tonic for all those that despair of creating a place for the best qualities of the human race in times of utter darkness. A must-read.

Camus' essays are obviously more difficult to read than hisstories, and quite possibly more difficult to read than his philosophical investigations as well. Should they be read? Of course. In them, he speaks of similar topics (i.e. what to do in the face of absurditiy, human moral dilemmas, etc.) as he does in the other books, though in a more precise, more direct fashion. His views on the death penalty shaped my own almost completely.

What you get in this book are coherent arguments by a coherent, nuainced thinker. Is Sartre smarter than Camus? Camus knew enough to fear most -isms and -ologies where Sartre did not... (not that I recommend ignoring Sartre either! )

Albert Camus is as good at writing plays as he is at everything else he does. Whether you are new to Camus or not, you will definately enjoy this.

Encompassing the doctorine of the Ubermensch cast alongside the dictatorship of Hitler, Camus creates an absurd, absolute ruler whom the people are at his beck and call. Every whim, be it for food or a specific person's death for the merge specticle of it, are just some of the scenes depicted in this play. It forces the question of whether one would rather possess a ruler who is consistant in all actions, thought, etc. or one who is willing to contradict him or herself for the good of the people. This is a complex work whose depths it seems may never be compeletly explored. Often overlooked due to the potency of his prose, Camus has produced yet another masterwork.

Camus' raw talent. There isn't anything negative to say about Camus, other than he died too young. If he'd lived through the 60's, he'd at the most give Sartre a good run for his money.

I love Camus simply because he's the only writer/philosopher who 'beats you up' with the truth, and comforts you with the notion, that he too has done this to himself. He doesn't try to replace your religion or your belief, or even question your place in the world. And he certainly didn't trade in one 'ism' for another like his Toad-faced contemporary!

Read this! It's wonderful. Camus sums up life's absurdities simplier than Kierkergaard and a tad bit kinder--maybe even sublte--than Nietzsche (who in my estimation is the one and only TRUE existential----maybe Che Guevara is a close second)

The cover of Caligula shows an abstract horse bucking, and that is just what Caligula does to us. It knocks us off our high-horse by bringing us face-to-face with death. Only (and I do not choose that word lightly) a true understanding of death can put lives in perspective. Sure Caligula is a despot who could have the life of any of his subjects, but the fact-of-the-matter is that our lives can end at any second. Caligula teaches us not to take life for granted, which is something that is all to easily done in this era. This theme also exists in State of Seige. The other two plays, The Misunderstanding, and The Just Assasins are more subtle, but they also deal with idea that we take petty concerns and ideas too seriously, and fail to look and the big picture. I should also add that the language and passion of the plays are exceptional.

Camus does an excellent job of contrasting individual insanity and collective insanity in his play Caligula. Basically, Caligula is insane. He is a despot who holds the lives of his subjects in his hands. At times, for very arbitrary reasons, he kills or executes someone from his court. This seems arbitrary and frightenging. Yet, Caligula is contrasted against sane military officers who engage in terrible acts of war where thousands upon thousands of civilians and soldiers are killed. So who is insane? Is it the dictator who might execute someone in his court for very trivial reasons or is it the rational military general who kills thousands and thousands of persons in rational and supposedly justified warfare? Camus reveals to the careful reader that societal evil is far more dangerous than individual evil. This is a wonderful thoughtful classic play that demonstrates Camus' ability to bring complex concepts to dramatic life.

The Misunderstanding, another play in this volume, is another complex drama. An innkeeper and her old maid daughter kills guests of the inn when they are able to discern that the guest's death can not be tracked. They rob the guests which supplements their income. They long for the return of the beloved son of the innkeeper who has been gone for years and years without contact. As you might expect, the son returns to the inn and is murdered by his mother and sister. The deed is revealed when his wife arrives and finds him missing. Camus here deals with the concept of objectification of others so that violence may be done to them without remorse. When the innkeeper and her daughter find they have murdered the long lost son, they are beside themselves with grief. But yet they have murdered many innocent travelers without remorse because they have been able to divorce themselves from any thoughts that these travelers were fellow humans. A simple play with a simple point, yet it points to a terrible feature of human existence, that we can commit unspeakable horror on others once we have convinced ourselves that they are no longer human beings. Camus recognized that prejudice kills, it is not beneign.

I appreciate Camus' ability to make a point without preaching or overstating. I strongly suggest this book of 4 short plays.

Only in French, but comments in English are welcome:un des plus puissants livres de tous les temps, du point de vue litteraire inimitable, du point de vue humain la transcription artistique et a la fois humaine des profondeurs sensibles et distantes en meme temps de l'espece humaine.

Having submitted this review in spanish and not having it posted, I'll try again in english.......
Camus reached fame with his elaborations about the concept of the absurd (the purposeless search of the meaning of existence in a universe void of any)in three works: The Stranger, a novel; Caligula, a teathrical opus; and The Myth of Sisyphus, a recopilation of philosophical essays.
In his second famous novel, The Plague, we find a different Camus. Perhaps, more concerned about moral values and solidarity between human beings, in the face of massive destruction.
The plot of the novel unfolds in the city of Oran, Algeria. The central image has to do with a rat invasion that causes a plague epidemy, with disastrous consecuences. Here we find metaphorically portraited the invasion by the Nazis in 1943 of non occupied France (Camus said that the Nazis came like rats).
Then we find a description of the evolution of the plague, the reaction of the authorities (at first, self denial), the progressive isolation of the town from outside world, and on the onset the "normalization" of the tragedy (people grow accostumed to live with it, and become zombies). After the evolution and the growth of the problem, the inhabitants become completely isolated from the outside, and become prisoners in the inside, due to the drastic measures taken by the authorities. The plague becomes a collective problem that requires recognition and reaction by all. We have here a clear metaphorical reference to the need of a collective reaction to the Vichy government by all the citizens. The call to participate and react becomes a moral issue. Camus then describes with certain detail the soccer stadium where people are forcibly concentrated by the authorities, and this is an allusion to the Nazi concentration camps. More than the persons, the protagonist of this novel is the city.
In the sense that the values of solidarity and participation against a common disaster or enemy are called for, this novel is much more developed, from an ethical standpoint, than The Stranger.

Just kidding! Actually this book was heavy, depressing, and tedious to slog through. All that means is I didn't like it. I could still tell that La Peste is Camus' best attempt at converting the world to existentialism-- it just wasn't my cup of tea. Skillfully written, well thought-out and planned. Rough going throughout, but it will change you if you let it.

Camus's second novel "La Pest" is probably his richest and most widely accessable. The importance of the novel, however, is that it strives to create "existential ethics." Camus powerfully builds upon the ideas of absurdity that he estiblished in "The Myth of Sysiphus" and also expands upon how and why people must face and oppose suffering in the world.

esta novela, que da la sensacion de claustrofobia y terror provocada por una enfermedad que pone en cuarentena a toda la poblacion, es otro logro de albert camus, un tremendo escritor, autor de ese otro libro llamado el extranjero. la peste, de caracter menos nihilista, nos muestra a los seres humanos aislados por la enfermedad y en busca de una causa comun, pero siempre solos, con su interior muy buena... LUIS MENDEZ

The notebooks are valuable as the record of a life, and also as a kind of preliminary sketchbook to the works. Here one can see Camus groping toward the chrystallization of his most significant works. The aphoristic and descriptive beauty of some of the passages also add to the value of the work.

After reading all of Camus' works I read his notebooks, and all of it sudden his track of mind made sense. You can clearly see the train of thoughts before The Stranger and The Fall. This book is essential for anyone who is into existentialism, absurdism and their derivatives.

I would like to say this is more of a philosophical book, but Albert's desire was always to be recognized as a writer more than a thinker. His entries are of an artist expressing his lassitude towards meaning and some paragraphs are harsh while criticizing war, love and human nature. If you are overly religious, this book may not be for you.

Great collection of entries from writer who should've won more Nobel Prizes and who is the father of modern existentialism.. still.

This novel , more like a autobiography is great because in it he tells of certain unforgetable conversations and ideas that his mind has come up with. It just makes me want to read more of his work because now i know how he gets some of his ideas and the process he goes through in creating a grea novel. Although the notes are written in a form that is different then usual , they are great to read. I recomend it.

This book...a rather large one...is wonderful and incredibly special since it is a peek into Camus' thoughts. He wrote everything down, afraid he would not remember his thoughts. This book is especially interesting since it has some powerful sayings in it...if you are searching for a good quote to write an essay about, I recommend this book.

For too many decades and by too many college instructors, Albert Camus has been clumped together with Jean-Paul Sartre and others under the heading of "Existentialist". This collection of Camus' notebooks indicates that there were many other things going on in his thinking, and Existentialism was hardly one of them. In fact, several revealing excerpts show us a man who disagreed with it fundamentally.

That aside, what it really presents to the reader is that Camus is first and foremost a writer. Whether it's creative writing, critical writing, reflective writing, etc., he was accomplished at all of them. His description of a sunset, quaint as it might sound, is so beautiful it's almost heartbreaking. Meanwhile, his political observations are keen, with a strong sense of urgency.

Equally fascinating is to observe his literary works taking shape: to see the mind of a writer putting a major opus together. To me, this is the major contribution of the book. I highly recommend this book to aspiring writers, diarists, or to anyone interested in the mid-20th century thought. That goes for Existentialists too.

I've read the books and the essays, Vintage has them seperately, but get them here. Camus is a secular "god," one of the greatest (and bravest) writers of the twentieth century. Don't trust me, just read something short. (Maybe the editorial from "Combat" on the dropping of the atom bomb in Aout 1945.)

Albert Camus is one of my favorite authors. His stories are some of the greatest of the past century.

If you're a fan of existentialism or just great literature then this is the book for you. Just by buying this set you're already saving money and the hardcover makes it great for book shelf eye candy. If you want to read what each section is about then just read the next review but if you're reading this, take into consideration that Camus wasn't awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for nothing. He was deeply involved in the struggles for Algerian freedom and you can tell from his novels that he is consciensly involved with the questions of the absurd and the freedom of man in a messed up world. These books and essays will make you think and start to ask yourself questions.

What is the meaning of life? For many, that question is an abstraction except in the context of being aware of losing some of the joys of life, or life itself. In The Plague, Camus creates a timeless tale of humans caught in the jaws of implacable death, in this case a huge outbreak of bubonic plague in Oran, Algeria on the north African coast. With the possibility of dying so close, each character comes to see his or her life differently. In a sense, we each get a glimpse of what we, too, may think about life in the last hours and days before our own deaths. The Plague will leave you with a sense of death as real rather than as an abstraction. Then by reflecting in the mirror of that death, you can see life more clearly.

For example, what role would you take if bubonic plague were to be unleashed in your community? Would you flee? Would you help relieve the suffering? Would you become a profiteer? Would you help maintain order? Would you withdraw or seek out others? These are all important questions for helping you understand yourself that this powerful novel will raise for you.

The book is described as objectively as possible by a narrator, who is one of the key figures in the drama. That literary device allows each of us to insert ourselves into the situation.

Let me explain the main themes. Love is expressed in many ways. There is the love of men and women for each other. Dr. Rieux's wife is ill, and has just left for treatment at a sanitarium. Rambert, a journalist on temporary assignment, is separated from his live-in girl friend in Paris. Dr. Rieux's mother comes to stay with him during his mother's absence, so there is also love of parent and child. The magistrate also loses his son to the plague after a desperate battle. Separations occur because of the quarantine on Oran, which causes love to be tested. What is love without the other person being present? The characters find that their memories soon become abstractions. But they reach out to establish new love with each other. Tarrou, who is also caught in Oran, decides or organize a volunteer corps to help with the sick and dead. Rambert decides to stay in Oran to help after having arranged to escape the quarantine. The survivors find succor in increasing closeness with each other. Rieux and Tarrou become close, almost like brothers. Even Rieux's patients become people with whom he develops an emotional bond, even though the waves of death become an abstraction as he can do little to avert them. The priest figure also helps to explore the notion of love for God and God's love for us. The exile theme is reinforced by the quarantine. People cannot leave Oran. The disease itself causes that exile to become worse. If someone in your household becomes ill, each well person has to be quarantined. So you may be living in a tent in the soccer stadium wondering what is happening to the rest of your family. Cottard is a criminal who is on the run from the authorities. He is in despair as the plague begins, and tries to kill himself. The distractions of the plague keep the authorities from troubling him, so the period of the plague is an exile from his criminal past.

Suffering is easy to explain. Bubonic plague came in two forms in the book. Both brought painful and rapid death, with few reprieves. There is high fever, painful swelling or difficulty in breathing, and enormous pain. Those who tend the suffering also suffer, from the enormous workloads, the sense of futility, and the fear that they, too, will be next.

Camus does a nice job of pointing out that these themes also recur in everyday life. We just don't see them very clearly. The people in Oran live in an ugly city that deliberately built itself away from the beauty of the ocean on a sun-scorched plateau plagued by winds. They take little time to enjoy each other or the ocean, because they are caught up with making money. Commerce is their passion. So they cut themselves off from love, in an exile of spirit, which causes them to shrivel and suffer emotionally even before the plague comes. Tarrou also describes is own sense of the plague in everyday life when he discovers that his father is a prosecuting attorney who helps bring criminals to the justice of a firing squad. Even that faint connection of not trying to stop the legal killing causes Tarrou to feel like he carries the plague within him.

The book is masterful in its use of metaphor. In the beginning, dying rats and small animals presage the plague attacking humans. At the end, their return presages the return of normal life to Oran. The scenes alternate between illuminating the main themes in the context of the physical plague and the emotional plague. Religion is used as a bridge between the two, raising the fundamental question about what God's purpose is in unleashing the plague. The priest is fully tested in his love of God through this development, which is one of the most moving parts of the book.

I have read the book both in French and in English, and found this translation to be a perfectly appropriate one. There are few nuances that you will miss by reading this in English. Obviously, if you read French well, you should read the book in its original form.

This book is an excellent example of why Albert Camus was named a Nobel Laureate in Literature.

After you read this great novel, I encourage you to consider the subject of complacency. That's the author's ultimate target. Where are you complacent in ways that cost you love, closeness with others, and happiness? What else is complacency costing you? How can you help others learn to overcome complacency in loving, happy ways without the spectre of death to help you?

I had read Camus's "The Stranger" and was taken aback by the wonderful understanding he had of the human mind. I needed to read more, and in this handsome book was a great feast for the mind. It is not meant to be read all at once, I found it helpful to read another book inbetween the full-length novels within the collection.
There has been no singular work that has moved me as much as the "The Plague, The Fall, Exile and the Kingdom, and Selected Essays", it goes beyond existentialism and his philosophy. It delves into the very mind, that which makes us human. The stories are not lost through their translation from French, the characters are the people you see in the streets, but they are put under the eye of a profound intellectual. It is more than worth the price, and the time spent reading the words is time well spent. His contribution to modern philosophy and existentialism is unchallenged, but he is also an amazing author and voice. The Plague may be the highlight of the book, but one will not lose enthusiasm reading that which follows.

This book is divided into three sections: Lyrical Essays, Critical Essays, and Camus's Self-Commentary.

The lyrical essays are stories and musings. What I found makes these lyrical essays beautiful is not the language itself (for this, I think no one beats Thoreau) but the ideas and descriptions expressed in the unfolding of the stories or central themes.

The critical essays are essentially Camus's thoughts on culture, philospohy, and other literature (e.g. Faulkner and Melville). Camus's commentary on himself is also very interesting, for I think that these essays are the most telling of Camus's views not just of himself and his writing, but of his views on society at the time.

Here is a compilation of the essays that Camus wrote during the entire span of his career.It is branched into 2 categories,& a final chapter dealing more personally with outlooks on life & his works.The lyrical section describes in vivid detail the places that have moved & altered his life profoundly,eloquently relating how & why.It is one of the great literary what-if's if Camus would have done poetry in verse form;judging from the fine,thin & nimble prose that impressively illustrates the simultaneous cause & effect union bet. the man & his nature,he could have been a very good lyric poet,if not a great one.The Critical essays are honest & insightful measurements on the correlation bet. the work that he deals with & it's relevance to life & art.The final section,"Camus On Himself",offer some verifiable insights into the man & his personality.This book could serve as a very impt. introduction or supplement to Camus's entire canon;one could feel very refreshed & informed after reading it.

"There is no love of life without despair of life."-These words haunted me when I first read this book nearly ten years ago. I then lent it out, never to be returned. (Ahem, I've become very cautious about lending books out since then.) Anyway, I just recently repurchased this book and reread it, and I still (unlike Camus' himself) regard the LYRICAL essays herein as much more beautiful, powerful and significant than the much touted The Stranger (which I, however, like as well, only on another level.)
It's quotes like the one above and "Knowing that certain nights whose sweetness lingers will keep returning to the earth and sea after we are gone, yes, this helps us die." that make this collection of essays Camus' best work.
The Stranger is, indeed, a unique contribution to post-WWII literature. But these essays are unique as well as powerful and beautiful. My bet is that, a century from now, these essays will be remembered long after the "existentialist" vogue has long faded, as Camus' best work.
My apologies to those who worship terse, arid prose. It has its place. But it's not the stuff of truly great literature. The lyrical essays contained herein are.

The language of the book are so well written that you can feel the emotions and spirits permeates from the pages. This book contains a lot of thoughts that are suprisingly simple, yet manage to escape us in the course of everyday life. It is about memories, places, faces and emotions of an ordinary human being with an extraordinary talent for life. " ... there is more love in these awkward pages than in all those that have followed." (Albert Camus, Preface 1958)

this book has value beyond furnishing tidbits for Camus scholars, providing his take on North and South America, notably New York City and cities of Brazil, along with Buenos Aires and Santiago. He seems to have met only a few people he liked, and maybe two or three sites impressed him. He reflects on suicide. No it is not a cheerful work, but it is vivid. Hard to imagine this was the tour of a man at his most successful. For Americans, this work if valuable for he describes our homeland; if you have read the major works, this is worth a gander.

This book is a peek into how Camus really feels about The United States and South America, when he was here. He was also very specific, right down to what he did in the morning, how he prepared for each day, what he said to his fellow passengers, as well as how many people snored in his train cabin. I suggest this to anyone who is interested in Camus, as well as to anyone who enjoys reading a diary-style novel.

Educated Americans share a self-consciousness, a painful awareness that we descendants of mere colonists are probably at best nouveau-riche; in short, that we are not Europeans. Indeed, we struggle to hide our secret gratitude when a European friend--particularly a Frenchman--even shows interest in us. Thus it is a great joy to open these pages and find that one of the greatest products of French letters took the time to set down his thoughts about us and our country. Camus wrote these notes during a lecture tour to this country while he was in his thirties, a time when he was first coming to international attention and when he was deep in preparation of some of his most important literary works. Camus reveals a critical but endearingly tender fascination with our country, with its often crass culture, with its sometimes seemingly naive optimism, and with its lack of awareness of its own inestimable riches. At the same time, serious students of his work will discover the first inklings of insights and ideas that would work their way into his major writings.

Camus kept an extensive literary journal during his life, a very large portion of which (including this small piece) is available in English translation. His journal is deeply insightful and often tender and personal, but written in an elegant and well organized narrative (suggesting his anticipation that his journal would someday be read by the masses). Anyone who loves Camus will be interested in this book, and any American Camus-phile will be enraptured and gratified by it.

I first read, The Just, during a student exchange program in Australia and was immediately captured by Camus' captivating style. The plot is so simple and yet raises some extremely serious questions. A small rebel groop in pre-revolutionary Russia plan to assasin a member of the aristocracy, yet must face that the justification of their deed is by no means a simple one. In a world deprived of unambiguous moral standards, the rebels find that no judgement about anything in the real world can be absolutely justified. Camus is sublime in his quest to rebel and install moral values in an otherwise absurd universe, and his literary skills give his brand of existencial philosophy the atmosphere, which not only conveys it to literally everyone, but also gives it an atmosphere quite unique for philosophical fiction. Camus truly belongs among such greats as Dostoyevski, Kafka and Sartre.

A leader implements policies that you believe to be deadly : is there a justification to kill him to prevent disaster? Can anyone justify imposing his views on others? Can society be built if no one does so ? A great story, suspense, love, tragedy to cover a fundamental moral and social issue. The best of Camus, Shakespearian in its multiple layers, from entertainment to fundamental reflection.

The Just is a play based upon real events. To convey his concept of moral revolutionaries, Camus fictionalized the 1905 Moscow assassination of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovitch, the uncle of Czar Nicholas II.

The assassin, in real life and in the play, is a man named Kaliayev. Camus' characterization is of a man dedicated to political change, but not through blind or senseless violence. Camus never endorsed or accepted the need for violence against "civilians" during a revolution, so he endows his characters with the same value. The small cell to which Kaliayev belongs in the play in dedicated to "justice* for the Russian people. They see their actions as self-sacrifice.

At the start of the play, Kaliayev is selected to throw the bomb that will assassinate the Grand Duke. His first attempt ends in what might be considered failure--Kaliayev does not throw the bomb. The Duke was with his niece and nephew. Kaliayev cannot harm innocent children, and the group agrees with his decision. Camus' account is, according to most, historically accurate; the real Kaliayev was not interested in harming those whom he considered to be innocent.

Breaking with history, Camus introduces a fictional character to illustrate the wrongs of the Communist Party. The character of Stepan Federov is a victim of the Czarist state. Due to his experiences under the Czar's legal system, he has become an extremist. Camus illustrates that some revolutionaries are acting upon emotion, not concern for their fellow citizens. Stepan tells the other terrorists that he would have killed children "if the organization commanded it."

Stepan is the archetype of a Stalinist--the type of supporter of the Soviet Union that prevented Camus from supporting the Communist Party. Camus was a socialist and supported the idea of change, but not the idea that any means can be justified by the anticipated ends. What happens when a revolution fails? The innocent die for nothing, according to Camus.

In the play, Kaliayev succeeds and assassinates the Grand Duke on the third try. The Grand Duchess Ella, sister of the Empress Alexandra, visits Kaliayev in prison; she is a kind and compassionate person. Again, Camus' account is based upon history. The Duchess even considers sparing the assassin's life. Kaliayev tells her that he wants to die--to avoid being a "murderer." At this moment in the play, Kaliayev adheres to basic existential ethics...he accepts the consequences of his actions.

Camus even ends the play with another insult to communists. Dora, a woman, is selected for the next bombing. Historically, women were not allowed to be active in most revolutionary movements, not even the French Resistance. Camus always wondered why "the people" never included women, although it is no wonder, considering how difficult were his own relationships with the women in his life.

The Just constitutes the third and final of Camus' works known as The Revolts; the first was the novel, Le Peste, or The Plague and the third, the essay, L'Homme Révolté, or The Rebel.

I thought this book was excellent. It was extremely helpful as far as taking a piece of work that I found difficult to read, and not only making it understandable and interesting, but also giving it meaning and purpose. I now comprehend the book's importance as a historical piece of literature much better than I could before. I found the biography of Casmus' life to be well-rounded and captivating, without needing to read an entire book about him! I highly recommend this book for any student of literature who wants to better understand Casmus and/or his writing of The Plague.

I thought this book was excellent. It was extremely helpful as far as taking a piece of work that I found difficult to read, and not only making it understandable and interesting, but also giving it meaning and purpose. I now comprehend the book's importance as a historical piece of literature much better than I could before. I found the biography of Casmus' life to be well-rounded and captivating, without needing to read an entire book about him! I highly recommend this book for any student of literature who wants to better understand Casmus and/or his writing of The Plague.

Jesse Cunningham catalogues a broad, well-researched collection of essays that address readers on a variety of levels. Camus biographers Germaine Bree and Gaetan Picon introduce the work with insightful, easily understood discussions on theme and allegory. The other contributing writers, (John Cruickshank, Derek Parker, David R. Ellison, Brian Masters, Rachel Bespaloff, Jennifer Waelti-Walters, Patrick McCarthy, Allen Thiher, David Sprintzen, Bernard C. Murchland, and Robert R. Brock), tackle a variety of subjects with pertinence and wit. I highly recommend this work as an insightful read and a stepping stone to further research.

If you are unfamiliar with the global struggle against Nazism, and the French idealogical struggle against this same threat, this may not be the book for you. However, I highly doubt that this is the first title one comes across as one encountering Camus for the first time. So, if you are one of those, perhaps you may like to look at something that is more of one one the great "Nobel Prize-Wining" author's novels first. They are entirely engaging and easy to read, but an intellectual challenge.
Intellectual grandstanding aside, I found this book wonderful. It gives perspective into the mind of one of the greatest Journalists / Novelist of the twentieth century. I have enjoyed his essays and novels in the past, but as a former working journalists, the thing that amazed me the most was his ability to see into the future based off of world events. Camus's insights are as revelant today as 60 years ago when he was writing in Combat. In this book, the young man's insight's and intellectual development are laid out in a neatly ordered fashion.
A caveat, this is a hard book to "get into". While there is a grand historical narrative, there is little continuity between the passages, making this, at least for me, a lengthy read. However lengthy it was, it was worth it. Camus's insights and his highly quotable and pity quotes are massively enjoyable. My significant other would account the times I had to read her a line. As a teacher, I had to have much restraint to not plaster my room with his quotes. The entry reflecting the first explosion of the atomic bomb is worth the price of admission alone.

For those who only know the novels of Camus, here is what I found to be an invaluable collection of his writings on key issues of the mid 1940's. It made me want to keep reading more about this major intellectual figure.