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Committed Writings
The Nobel Prize winner's most influential and enduring political writings, newly curated and introduced by acclaimed Camus scholar Alice Kaplan.
Albert Camus (1913-1960) is unsurpassed among writers for a body of work that animates the wonder and absurdity of existence. Committed Writings brings together, for the first time, thematically-linked essays from across Camus's writing career that reflect the scope of his political thought. This pivotal collection embodies Camus's radical and unwavering commitment to upholding human rights, resisting fascism, and creating art in the service of justice.
Albert Camus (1913-1960) is unsurpassed among writers for a body of work that animates the wonder and absurdity of existence. Committed Writings brings together, for the first time, thematically-linked essays from across Camus's writing career that reflect the scope of his political thought. This pivotal collection embodies Camus's radical and unwavering commitment to upholding human rights, resisting fascism, and creating art in the service of justice.
160 pages, Paperback
Published August 4, 2020
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About the author
Albert Camus
1,084 books38.4k followersWorks, 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
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
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
February 5, 2022
3.5. love how he sees the world but i prefer his fictional works over his political writings - still a king though!
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November 14, 2024Camus’ political writing transcends time and any sort of temporal dimensions and is somehow even more reflective of the current political landscape than it was at the time of publication. Time truly is a flat circle because in Letters to a German Friend, Camus writes to a hypothetical German friend who has become a Nazi and in these letters, there is so much sentiment that is spewed that mirrors the sentiments I hold towards the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and Zionism. Reading these letters through the lens of anti-Zionism genuinely changes everything and so much of Camus’ writing can be applied to the cause. Tons of Zionists argue that Palestinians are violent and resistant towards the annexation of their land, yet fail to look inwards and realize that the very existence of Israel is violent in and of itself. Camus writes that “the spirit together with the sword will always win out over the sword alone”, which is just a testament to how Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation and apartheid will genuinely persevere over the violence inflicted by Israelis for their Zionist cause. Also this: “yet some of those places are ones that you and I saw together. It never occurred to me then that someday we should have to liberate them from you” made me think about how when initially Jews sought out refuge in Palestine from the everlasting presence of anti-Semitism in Europe post-World War II, they were welcomed into the homes of Palestinians and then with the creation of the state of Israel, they expelled Palestinians from their rightful homes.
Reflections on the Guillotine can be encapsulated by this one quote on capital punishment: “It is to the body politic what cancer is to the individual body, with this difference: no one has even spoken of the necessity of cancer.” This made me reflect a ton on the brutality of capital punishment and the voyeurism associated with public executions, but also human nature and the spectrum of goodness. I don’t know how to feel about capital punishment… of course I think rapists and Nazis and Zionists and whoever else deserve to suffer for eternity or have their presence eliminated from Earth because what purpose do they serve besides being vehicles for violence? But also, Camus brings up how the executions of criminals who were falsely accused have occurred and how merely one occurrence of such a situation should have led to the total abolishment of the death penalty. One line states “There are no just people—merely hearts more or less lacking in justice. Living at least allows us to discover this and to add to the sum of our actions a little of the good that will make up in part for the evil we have added to the world.” Everyone exists on this Earth and toes the line between good and evil for their entire existence, nothing is absolute and concrete, but Camus’ words are also hopeful. Most people strive for goodness and there is goodness threaded into the fabric of our lives and its all around us… bit random but I always think of this one review I read way back in like grade 12 about Kiarostami’s Where is the Friend’s House? where the reviewer draws attention to a scene where the main character’s mother tells him to add two sugar cubes into the bottle of milk for his sibling and he instinctively adds three sugar cubes in and how it's reflective of how acts of goodness, regardless of how minute they are, are found everywhere. Like I don't know, I think I'm becoming less of a pessimist the older I get, but also there are some things that occur that are so innately evil that I can't see how people are optimists...
This is lowkey all over the place I’m just writing to write at this point I need to stop.
Reflections on the Guillotine can be encapsulated by this one quote on capital punishment: “It is to the body politic what cancer is to the individual body, with this difference: no one has even spoken of the necessity of cancer.” This made me reflect a ton on the brutality of capital punishment and the voyeurism associated with public executions, but also human nature and the spectrum of goodness. I don’t know how to feel about capital punishment… of course I think rapists and Nazis and Zionists and whoever else deserve to suffer for eternity or have their presence eliminated from Earth because what purpose do they serve besides being vehicles for violence? But also, Camus brings up how the executions of criminals who were falsely accused have occurred and how merely one occurrence of such a situation should have led to the total abolishment of the death penalty. One line states “There are no just people—merely hearts more or less lacking in justice. Living at least allows us to discover this and to add to the sum of our actions a little of the good that will make up in part for the evil we have added to the world.” Everyone exists on this Earth and toes the line between good and evil for their entire existence, nothing is absolute and concrete, but Camus’ words are also hopeful. Most people strive for goodness and there is goodness threaded into the fabric of our lives and its all around us… bit random but I always think of this one review I read way back in like grade 12 about Kiarostami’s Where is the Friend’s House? where the reviewer draws attention to a scene where the main character’s mother tells him to add two sugar cubes into the bottle of milk for his sibling and he instinctively adds three sugar cubes in and how it's reflective of how acts of goodness, regardless of how minute they are, are found everywhere. Like I don't know, I think I'm becoming less of a pessimist the older I get, but also there are some things that occur that are so innately evil that I can't see how people are optimists...
This is lowkey all over the place I’m just writing to write at this point I need to stop.
August 16, 2020
Obviously a great collection however the first two essays appear in previous published works the only new to me work is his Nobel Prize speeches
December 30, 2022
Creating dangerously for Camus was the essence of art. To reconcile narrative and human experience. As wonderful companions to his fictional work - notably L'Étranger and La Chute - these three essays act as a reminder of Camus' greatness as an intellectual, militant, and artist, and reaffirm the French writer as one of the foremost advocates for a sobering yet empowering self-awareness which 'civilised' societies continue to be desperately in lack of.
Thank you to my dear friend Jared for the present.
Thank you to my dear friend Jared for the present.
March 25, 2025
my favourite profound yapper
May 5, 2025
..paklausījos darbā un paklausījos brīvdienās. nebija tik labi kā ar iepriekšējām piezīmēm, bet šo to izbaudīju uz visiem 100%. | 3,5*
September 21, 2025
I went in looking for an absurdist Camus. Rather, I found an impassioned one.
February 13, 2024
Committed Writings is a collection of three sets of essays: Letters to a German Friend, Reflections on the Guillotine, and The Nobel Speeches. These are really three distinct topics of little topical overlap.
1. Letters to a German Friend
I have been, low key, on a minor quest to understand the thoughts and feelings of real people involved in WW2 - and their recovery from the traumas they experienced and participated in. One area of interest in looking at France, its rather quick defeat and occupation by Germany, and how French people were likely both humiliated by such an easy and early defeat, but then also directly humiliated by their treatment during occupation. Camus' Letters to a German Friend hit this spot quite well. Camus writes these to a fictitious friend, but really uses it to publicize his feelings of scorn and resentment, but also to undermine, get under the skin of German occupiers, while simultaneously beginning to embolden and uplift a French resistance in explaining their early lapse, and rising expectations of victory of intelligence over ignorance.
The first letter begins with Camus defending the German's earlier suggestion that Frenchmen do not love their country. Camus says, "I should like to be able to love my country and still love Justice. I don't want just any greatness for it (my country), particularly a greatness born of blood and falsehood."
(This rings true to me and worthy of sharing with a MAGA-head).
He continues throughout with so many great "zingers"... contrasting his values of truth, intelligence and justice against the German's empty ignorance, inhumanity and injustice.
Quotes as follows:
"It is not much to be able to do violence.... when violence is more natural to you than thinking."
"It is a great deal to fight while despising war, to accept losing everything while still preferring happiness, to face destruction while cherishing the idea of a higher civilization." "We had to stifle our passion for friendship." "It is a detour that safeguarded justice and put truth on the side of those who questioned themselves... It took us all that time to find out if we had the right to kill men."
"Truth wins out over falsehood."
"You used to try to urge me along the path you yourself had taken, where intellect is ashamed of intellect."
"Man is that force which ultimately cancels all tyrants and gods." "We had formed an idea of our country that put her in her proper place, amid other great concepts - friendship, mankind, happiness, our desire for justice."
"You are fighting with the resources of blind anger, with your mind on weapons and feats of arms rather than on ideas, stubbornly confusing every issue and following your obsession."
(another great line to pass on to our MAGA friends)
"We had not yet assembled our reasons for fighting."
"My tradition has two aristocracies, that of the intellect and that of courage." "You scorned knowledge and spoke only of strength." "your Europe is not the right one."
A Nice hopeful and poetic moment: "For all those landscapes, those flowers and those plowed fields, the oldest of lands, show you every spring that there are things you cannot choke in blood.... everything in Europe, both landscape and spirit calmly negates you..... The battle we are waging is sure of victory because it is as obstinate as Spring."
"You supposed that in the absence of any human or divine code the only values were those of the animal world - in other words, violence and cunning...."...."I saw no valid argument to answer you except a fierce love of justice.
"I continue to believe that this world has no ultimate meaning. But I know that something in it has a meaning and that is man – the only creature to insist on having one."
"We tried to persevere in our hearts the memory of a happy sea, a remembered hill, the smile of a beloved face. For that matter, this was our best weapon, the one that we shall never put away."
"You chose a vague heroism because it is the only value left in a world that has lost its meaning. We were forced to imitate you in order not to die. But we became aware that our superiority over you consisted in our having a direction... now we can tell you what we have learned – that heroism isn't much, and that happiness is more difficult...."
"We shall at least have helped save man from the solitude to which you wanted to relegate him. Because you scorned such faith in mankind, you are the men who, by the thousands, are going to die solitary."
Need I say, I loved this set of letters. Honestly had my adrenaline and heart-rate up at times. These letters alone were worth the read of this book.
2. Reflections on the Guillotine
I found rather long for my interests. Camus makes a solid case against capital punishment / death penalty. Much of the argument attacks the idea that the threat of death is a good deterrent to criminals. Camus summarizes that "Capital punishment could not intimidate the man who doesn't know that he is going to kill", and backs up this claim with the evidence from the several countries that had already abolished it, demonstrating that there was no decrease in such crimes.
One discussion that triggered my interest is where Camus suggests "another paradox of human nature," - that we have both a fundamental instinct to live, as well as a death instinct... "It is probable that the desire to kill often coincides with the desire to die or to annihilate oneself"....
"the criminal wants not only the crime, but also the suffering that goes with it."
This corresponds to what we have likely been seeing here in this country with recent mass shootings - lone-shooters, once they have contemplated committing their crimes against others, they in parallel accept, or even hope to end their own troubles.
3. Nobel speeches
Some interesting thoughts, mostly about the value of Art.
The Artist: "Two trusts that constitute the nobility of his calling: the service of Truth and the service of Freedom.... rooted in two commitments: refusal to lie about what we know and resistance to oppression."
"… but we are unable to win anyone over, in which intelligence has stooped to becoming the servant of hatred and oppression."
"Artists must take up their oars by continuing to live and create.... despondency would change nothing about what is really happening,… it would be far better to participate in our times since our age is clamoring for us to do so..... To create today means to create dangerously."
"What characterizes our times is the tension between contemporary sensitivities and the rise of the impoverished masses.... the masses have become stronger and won't allow us to forget them."
"I've always thought there were two kinds of intelligence: intelligent intelligence and stupid intelligence."
"The suffering of humankind is such an important subject...."
"until we can speak for all, it is stupid to take away the power to at least speak for some."
"The goal of art is first and foremost, to understand."
"no magnificent work of art has ever been founded on hatred or contempt."
"Artists choose their purpose as much as they are chosen by that purpose."
"Our sole justification is to speak out as best we can for those who cannot. And we must do this for everyone who is suffering at this very moment, despite the past or future greatness of the states or political parties that are oppressing them."
"beauty can serve no political party; it only serves the pain or freedom of mankind."
"Art today depends on our courage and our desire to see clearly"
"We must all run every risk and work to create freedom."
"Art unites where-ever tyranny divides."
"Every type of greatness in the end has roots in taking risks."
"Hope is awakened, given life, sustained, by the millions of individuals whose deeds and actions break down borders and refute the worst moments in history, to allow the truth – which is always in danger – to shine brightly, even if only fleetingly,..."
1. Letters to a German Friend
I have been, low key, on a minor quest to understand the thoughts and feelings of real people involved in WW2 - and their recovery from the traumas they experienced and participated in. One area of interest in looking at France, its rather quick defeat and occupation by Germany, and how French people were likely both humiliated by such an easy and early defeat, but then also directly humiliated by their treatment during occupation. Camus' Letters to a German Friend hit this spot quite well. Camus writes these to a fictitious friend, but really uses it to publicize his feelings of scorn and resentment, but also to undermine, get under the skin of German occupiers, while simultaneously beginning to embolden and uplift a French resistance in explaining their early lapse, and rising expectations of victory of intelligence over ignorance.
The first letter begins with Camus defending the German's earlier suggestion that Frenchmen do not love their country. Camus says, "I should like to be able to love my country and still love Justice. I don't want just any greatness for it (my country), particularly a greatness born of blood and falsehood."
(This rings true to me and worthy of sharing with a MAGA-head).
He continues throughout with so many great "zingers"... contrasting his values of truth, intelligence and justice against the German's empty ignorance, inhumanity and injustice.
Quotes as follows:
"It is not much to be able to do violence.... when violence is more natural to you than thinking."
"It is a great deal to fight while despising war, to accept losing everything while still preferring happiness, to face destruction while cherishing the idea of a higher civilization." "We had to stifle our passion for friendship." "It is a detour that safeguarded justice and put truth on the side of those who questioned themselves... It took us all that time to find out if we had the right to kill men."
"Truth wins out over falsehood."
"You used to try to urge me along the path you yourself had taken, where intellect is ashamed of intellect."
"Man is that force which ultimately cancels all tyrants and gods." "We had formed an idea of our country that put her in her proper place, amid other great concepts - friendship, mankind, happiness, our desire for justice."
"You are fighting with the resources of blind anger, with your mind on weapons and feats of arms rather than on ideas, stubbornly confusing every issue and following your obsession."
(another great line to pass on to our MAGA friends)
"We had not yet assembled our reasons for fighting."
"My tradition has two aristocracies, that of the intellect and that of courage." "You scorned knowledge and spoke only of strength." "your Europe is not the right one."
A Nice hopeful and poetic moment: "For all those landscapes, those flowers and those plowed fields, the oldest of lands, show you every spring that there are things you cannot choke in blood.... everything in Europe, both landscape and spirit calmly negates you..... The battle we are waging is sure of victory because it is as obstinate as Spring."
"You supposed that in the absence of any human or divine code the only values were those of the animal world - in other words, violence and cunning...."...."I saw no valid argument to answer you except a fierce love of justice.
"I continue to believe that this world has no ultimate meaning. But I know that something in it has a meaning and that is man – the only creature to insist on having one."
"We tried to persevere in our hearts the memory of a happy sea, a remembered hill, the smile of a beloved face. For that matter, this was our best weapon, the one that we shall never put away."
"You chose a vague heroism because it is the only value left in a world that has lost its meaning. We were forced to imitate you in order not to die. But we became aware that our superiority over you consisted in our having a direction... now we can tell you what we have learned – that heroism isn't much, and that happiness is more difficult...."
"We shall at least have helped save man from the solitude to which you wanted to relegate him. Because you scorned such faith in mankind, you are the men who, by the thousands, are going to die solitary."
Need I say, I loved this set of letters. Honestly had my adrenaline and heart-rate up at times. These letters alone were worth the read of this book.
2. Reflections on the Guillotine
I found rather long for my interests. Camus makes a solid case against capital punishment / death penalty. Much of the argument attacks the idea that the threat of death is a good deterrent to criminals. Camus summarizes that "Capital punishment could not intimidate the man who doesn't know that he is going to kill", and backs up this claim with the evidence from the several countries that had already abolished it, demonstrating that there was no decrease in such crimes.
One discussion that triggered my interest is where Camus suggests "another paradox of human nature," - that we have both a fundamental instinct to live, as well as a death instinct... "It is probable that the desire to kill often coincides with the desire to die or to annihilate oneself"....
"the criminal wants not only the crime, but also the suffering that goes with it."
This corresponds to what we have likely been seeing here in this country with recent mass shootings - lone-shooters, once they have contemplated committing their crimes against others, they in parallel accept, or even hope to end their own troubles.
3. Nobel speeches
Some interesting thoughts, mostly about the value of Art.
The Artist: "Two trusts that constitute the nobility of his calling: the service of Truth and the service of Freedom.... rooted in two commitments: refusal to lie about what we know and resistance to oppression."
"… but we are unable to win anyone over, in which intelligence has stooped to becoming the servant of hatred and oppression."
"Artists must take up their oars by continuing to live and create.... despondency would change nothing about what is really happening,… it would be far better to participate in our times since our age is clamoring for us to do so..... To create today means to create dangerously."
"What characterizes our times is the tension between contemporary sensitivities and the rise of the impoverished masses.... the masses have become stronger and won't allow us to forget them."
"I've always thought there were two kinds of intelligence: intelligent intelligence and stupid intelligence."
"The suffering of humankind is such an important subject...."
"until we can speak for all, it is stupid to take away the power to at least speak for some."
"The goal of art is first and foremost, to understand."
"no magnificent work of art has ever been founded on hatred or contempt."
"Artists choose their purpose as much as they are chosen by that purpose."
"Our sole justification is to speak out as best we can for those who cannot. And we must do this for everyone who is suffering at this very moment, despite the past or future greatness of the states or political parties that are oppressing them."
"beauty can serve no political party; it only serves the pain or freedom of mankind."
"Art today depends on our courage and our desire to see clearly"
"We must all run every risk and work to create freedom."
"Art unites where-ever tyranny divides."
"Every type of greatness in the end has roots in taking risks."
"Hope is awakened, given life, sustained, by the millions of individuals whose deeds and actions break down borders and refute the worst moments in history, to allow the truth – which is always in danger – to shine brightly, even if only fleetingly,..."
October 4, 2020
As a longtime fan of Camus, this collection definitely satisfied me while also offering a few new opportunities to see the strength of the man as a writer. While I had read Reflections on the Guillotine before, rereading it here was a chance to dig deeper into Camus's argument against capital punishment and see how my own thoughts about the structure had changed.
What was most enjoyable to me was reading Camus's speeches upon receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature and observing how, even while receiving the highest award for literary excellence, Camus never wavered from his integrity, nor did he fail to use his platform to address what he saw and observed as injustice. Any artist should take the time to read Camus's speeches here and reflect upon their own ideas of what social role art has.
This collection is an excellent starting point for any reader who has never read Camus's Non-fiction work.
What was most enjoyable to me was reading Camus's speeches upon receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature and observing how, even while receiving the highest award for literary excellence, Camus never wavered from his integrity, nor did he fail to use his platform to address what he saw and observed as injustice. Any artist should take the time to read Camus's speeches here and reflect upon their own ideas of what social role art has.
This collection is an excellent starting point for any reader who has never read Camus's Non-fiction work.
January 22, 2022
This is a short but highly compelling collection of some of Camus' short writings on subjects such as the second World War, the death penalty, and what it means to make art in these contemporary times. His powerful defense of Humanism and the importance of the individual spirit contains a depth of experience and wisdom that is missing in many such attempts.
To Camus, the meaning we humans make in the world for ourselves is the only real meaning that exists, and it is this humanistic meaning that he dearly values above any overriding ideological concern. The values arising from this existentialist humanism shine through in all of his points and argumentations in these essays and speeches. In many cases, these values can appear as underwhelming and naive, but here with Camus they are cogent, rousing, and inspirational.
To Camus, the meaning we humans make in the world for ourselves is the only real meaning that exists, and it is this humanistic meaning that he dearly values above any overriding ideological concern. The values arising from this existentialist humanism shine through in all of his points and argumentations in these essays and speeches. In many cases, these values can appear as underwhelming and naive, but here with Camus they are cogent, rousing, and inspirational.
February 25, 2022
This book contained many essays with the writer considering death from multiple angles, death sentence, war, murder, and how as society these are all viewed. It brought much food for thought, even if much of it is mostly in the past, such as a death sentence. I never had thought about how we cannot equate beheading to a murder, as one never warns the victim of a future death resulting in mental agony, whereas that is what a death sentence is. You don't know when, but the end is clear.
Also thoughts about art, how it is born from captivity and flourishes in freedom. A way to express but there must be the conditions to do so initially. Also the value of art, different types of art perceptions of the population of it.
These essays show a lot about Camus, his life experiences and the time in history he lived through.
Also thoughts about art, how it is born from captivity and flourishes in freedom. A way to express but there must be the conditions to do so initially. Also the value of art, different types of art perceptions of the population of it.
These essays show a lot about Camus, his life experiences and the time in history he lived through.
July 15, 2022
"We must know that we cannot hide away from communal misery, and that our sole justification, if one exists, is to speak out, as best we can, for those who cannot. And we must do this for everyone who is suffering at this very moment, despite the past or future greatness of the states or political parties that are oppressing them: to artists, there are no privileged torturers."
The more I read of Camus' work, the more deeply I admire his thinking. His essays can be a little dense, at times, but they contain such incredible and relevant analysis of the world that I can't criticize them too much for that. Even when I disagree with Camus' views, I still feel that I've learned so much from reading them.
The more I read of Camus' work, the more deeply I admire his thinking. His essays can be a little dense, at times, but they contain such incredible and relevant analysis of the world that I can't criticize them too much for that. Even when I disagree with Camus' views, I still feel that I've learned so much from reading them.
Read
June 6, 2023A collection of essays and other nonfiction pieces, hardly exhaustive, but generally very good. There are two "Letters to a German Friend" in which Camus makes pains to make us understand that he is addressing "Nazis" and not so much "Germans", but it's 1942 or so, and it makes sense to distinguish. It's about the moral certitude of fighting Nazis versus the much more nihilistic stance of being Nazis.
There's a very heartfelt and powerful long essay against the death penalty. There's his Nobel Speech. And finally we have his long essay called "Write Dangerously" which is about taking real stances, fighting against artistic emptiness, or writing with too social an aim (as opposed to representational).
There's a very heartfelt and powerful long essay against the death penalty. There's his Nobel Speech. And finally we have his long essay called "Write Dangerously" which is about taking real stances, fighting against artistic emptiness, or writing with too social an aim (as opposed to representational).
August 8, 2020
An indispensable volume that was once compiled and has now been brought back into print. The bruising opening of these essays with the four “Letters To A German Friend” are perhaps the most immediate and timely pieces I’ve read in the last couple of years, conveying the frustration of steadfast patriotism in the face of those who betray humane ideals and ultimately their own countryfolk. Reading this back to back with Meyer’s “They Thought They Were Free” was a grueling dose of what we could all use, and the book here functions as guidance, whether we need it or not.
July 18, 2022
I can definitely see how his views on politics and his philosophy is highly intertwined. One is reinforced in the other. After reading several of his fiction, reading this was a new way of understanding Camus. Rest enjoyed all of three sections of the book. Love for his country, a reflection and protest against capital punishment, and what an artist must do in difficult times and what it means to create in such turbulent moments in history.
I highly recommend and would read again in the future to see what a new light it can shed in life.
I highly recommend and would read again in the future to see what a new light it can shed in life.
May 29, 2024
Camus is alone in his extraordinary political thinking, and sometimes he goes into depths that are beyond my comprehension. Is thinking in writing are, though, human-like enough that I learned from him and I am impressed by him with every new reading of his I encounter. These writings discern between those of thought alone and those that reflect commitment and intent to commit oneself. Every time I read anything of his I am astounded by his intellectual and creative capabilities. It is stunning how he learned so much and knew so much by the age of 47 when he died in an auto accident.
February 17, 2021
Way better than I expected some letters to be, granted these are some of the most recent nonfiction writings I've spent my alone time reading in the first place. I never thought about art how he sums it up, and I enjoyed the way he stood for his cause and displayed his humility. Camus was truly one of the goats in my opinion on character alone. The things I read in this will stick with me for sometime.
July 27, 2021
A great collection of essays. Touching on topics such as nationalism, capital punishment, the nature and merits of “art”, and taking care of people whether it be from poverty, oppression, or anything else.
Parts of these essays hit home to things I already believe and think, and others gave me insights and different perspectives into different topics. I have a feeling this is something I’ll be coming back to for reflection and thinking as life and the world progresses.
Parts of these essays hit home to things I already believe and think, and others gave me insights and different perspectives into different topics. I have a feeling this is something I’ll be coming back to for reflection and thinking as life and the world progresses.
November 29, 2023
Really big fan of his "letters to a German friend" which deal with the issue of patriotism in light of WW2. It has an underlying conflict between Existentialists/Absurdists and Moral Relativism between letters.
A key idea is placing patriotism alongside our conceptions of justice. -“If at times we seemed to prefer justice to our country, this is because we simply wanted to love our country in justice"
Banger.
A key idea is placing patriotism alongside our conceptions of justice. -“If at times we seemed to prefer justice to our country, this is because we simply wanted to love our country in justice"
Banger.
April 7, 2023
3.5 stars
strangely my first camus. the ideas here were expressed in the gentle, curious and eloquent manner i expected. would've rated it higher but in all honesty this took me so long to read mainly because it was a bit too dense. if it was written by anyone other than camus i dont think i wouldve been able to stick through it all. (he is the loml…)
strangely my first camus. the ideas here were expressed in the gentle, curious and eloquent manner i expected. would've rated it higher but in all honesty this took me so long to read mainly because it was a bit too dense. if it was written by anyone other than camus i dont think i wouldve been able to stick through it all. (he is the loml…)
May 10, 2024
A collection of essays by Albert Camus about various political and person subjects.
He speaks a lot of Algerian politics and has a few essays on art. Overall pretty good, but not really applicable to me.
He speaks a lot of Algerian politics and has a few essays on art. Overall pretty good, but not really applicable to me.
July 26, 2024
This is an easy to read collection of essays and speeches by Camus. The focus of each verifies but they mainly have to do with his views on life and art. This collection highlights that he was a talented writer outside of Philisohy essays. If you're interested in absurdism then check this out!
October 15, 2024
a collection of essays, some written as war propaganda (as the author himself said, exaggerating various things on purpose), some about the abolition of the capital punishment, and the collection also includes his Nobel Prize speech.
November 25, 2024
se me hizo muy largo el ensayo de la pena de muerte guys
sentía que estaba discutiendo con el club de debate, y esos recuerdos de vietnam no me dejan disfrutar el ensayo tranquila
lo demás? espectacular.
las cartas me emocionaron y los Nobel speeches me fascinaron
sentía que estaba discutiendo con el club de debate, y esos recuerdos de vietnam no me dejan disfrutar el ensayo tranquila
lo demás? espectacular.
las cartas me emocionaron y los Nobel speeches me fascinaron
September 16, 2020
"I cannot believe that everything must be subordinated to a single end. There are means that cannot be excused. And I should like to be able to love my country and love justice."
September 26, 2022
Reflections on the guillotine was a fantastic essay highly recommend
April 26, 2024
the opening letters to a German (former) friend should be read by every HS ever
the repudiation of the death sentence should be too (regardless of the conclusion you come to personally).
the repudiation of the death sentence should be too (regardless of the conclusion you come to personally).
June 12, 2024
Snubben har rätt logiska resonemang till att avskaffa dödsstraff och bra tal om man någonsin skulle vinna nobelpris. Har typ bara hälften av hans böcker kvar att läsa nu yipp
January 7, 2025
3.5-4 stars, there were parts that were really interesting and others that were less so. Definitely enjoyed this read!
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