ALBERT CAMUS: The Inble Summer

by Albert Maquet ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 6, 1957

The fact that Albert Camus, the French novelist- essayist- and dramatist, is the 1957 Nobel Prize Winner makes timeliness an outstanding feature of this sympathetic critique of his work. Appearing recently in French, it is an able translation by Herma Briffault which American readers should welcome since it illuminates the otherwise somewhat obscure and alien purpose of this leading French intellectual. Camus, according to the author, is not an existentialist. He is a humanist, of a rather exalted kind. Recognizing deeply the ""absurdity"" of life, that is the impossibility of fitting a meaning to it, he nevertheless and in spite of his atheism and disbelief in after life believes in the possibility of a ""community of saints without God"". In the face of all the horror and evil of our time, he believes simply in human decency and moderation. Without great scope or invention, Camus' work is saved from arid intellectualism by his Mediterranean, sun-drenched sense of life- and the beautiful lucidity of his style.... Camus can probably never reach wide popularity in such an active and pragmatic society as we have here- but he interests intellectuals the world over and this interpretation should reach that audience.

Pub Date: Jan. 6, 1957

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: George Braziller

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1957

Categories: NONFICTION