Committed Writings

Description

A collection that includes some of Camus' most brilliant political writing This volume contains some of Camus' most powerful political writing as he reflects on moral responsibility and the role of the artist in the world. 'Letters to a German Friend' was Camus' first wartime intervention, written in 1943 in order 'to make our battle more effective'. 'Reflections on the Guillotine' is his impassioned polemic against the death penalty. And in his Nobel speeches, Camus argues against 'Art for art's sake' and brilliantly sets out his vision of the artist's responsibilities.

Albert Camus (1913-1960) grew up in a working-class neighbourhood in Algiers. He studied philosophy at the University of Algiers, and became a journalist. His most important works include The Outsider, The Myth of Sisyphus, The Plague and The Fall. After the occupation of France by the Germans in 1941, Camus became one of the intellectual leaders of the Resistance movement. He was killed in a road accident, and his last unfinished novel, The First Man, appeared posthumously. Justin O'Brien was the Blanche W. Knopf Professor of French Literature at Columbia University and renowed translator of Andre Gide and Albert Camus, both of whom were his intimate friends.

Probably no European writer of his time left so deep a mark on the imagination -- Conor Cruise O'Brien Camus helps you become "the one you are". And the revolt he incites, an assertion of individual freedom, brings you into a recognition of common human suffering and of the common need to lessen it and to enliven the lives of all -- David Constantine