Albert Camus ( / k æ m U / kam- OO , Estados Unidos también / k ə m U / kə- MOO ; francés: [albɛʁ kamy] ( escuche ) ; 7 nov 1913 a 4 en 1960) fue un filósofo francés, autor y periodista. Ganó el Premio Nobel de Literatura a la edad de 44 años en 1957, el segundo receptor más joven de la historia. Sus obras incluyen The Stranger , The Plague , The Myth of Sisyphus , The Fally The Rebel .
Albert Camus | |
---|---|
Nació | Mondovi , Argelia | 7 de noviembre de 1913
Fallecido | 4 de enero de 1960 Villeblevin , Francia | (46 años)
alma mater | Universidad de Argel |
Trabajo notable | El forastero / El forastero El mito de Sísifo El rebelde La plaga |
Esposos) |
|
Región | Filosofía occidental |
Colegio | |
Intereses principales | Ética , naturaleza humana , justicia , política , filosofía del suicidio |
Ideas notables | Absurdo |
Firma | |
Camus nació en la Argelia francesa de padres Pieds Noir . Pasó su infancia en un barrio pobre y luego estudió filosofía en la Universidad de Argel . Estaba en París cuando los alemanes invadieron Francia durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial en 1940. Camus intentó huir, pero finalmente se unió a la Resistencia francesa, donde se desempeñó como editor en jefe de Combat , un periódico ilegal. Después de la guerra, fue una figura famosa y dio muchas conferencias en todo el mundo. Se casó dos veces pero tuvo muchas aventuras extramatrimoniales. Camus era políticamente activo; era parte de la izquierda que se oponía a la Unión Soviética por su totalitarismo. Camus era moralista y se inclinaba hacia el anarcosindicalismo . Formó parte de muchas organizaciones que buscan la integración europea. Durante la Guerra de Argelia (1954-1962), mantuvo una postura neutral, abogando por una Argelia multicultural y pluralista, una posición que causó controversia y fue rechazada por la mayoría de los partidos.
Filosóficamente, los puntos de vista de Camus contribuyeron al surgimiento de la filosofía conocida como absurdismo , un movimiento que reacciona contra el surgimiento del nihilismo . También se le considera existencialista , aunque rechazó firmemente el término durante toda su vida.
La vida
Primeros años y educación
Albert Camus nació el 7 de noviembre de 1913 en un barrio obrero de Mondovi (actual Dréan ), en la Argelia francesa . Su madre, Catherine Hélène Camus (de soltera Sintès), era francesa con ascendencia hispano - balear . Su padre, Lucien Camus, un trabajador agrícola francés pobre, murió en la batalla del Marne en 1914 durante la Primera Guerra Mundial . Camus nunca lo conoció. Camus, su madre y otros familiares vivieron sin muchas posesiones materiales básicas durante su infancia en la sección Belcourt de Argel . Fue un francés de segunda generación en Argelia, un territorio francés desde 1830 hasta 1962. Su abuelo paterno, junto con muchos otros de su generación, se había trasladado a Argelia en busca de una vida mejor durante las primeras décadas del siglo XIX. Por lo tanto, fue llamado pied-noir , "pie negro", un término de la jerga para los franceses que nacieron en Argelia, y su identidad y su origen pobre tuvieron un efecto sustancial en su vida posterior. [2] Sin embargo, Camus era un ciudadano francés, en contraste con los habitantes árabes o bereberes de Argelia que estaban bajo un estatus legal inferior . [3] Durante su infancia, Camus desarrolló un amor por el fútbol y la natación. [4]
Bajo la influencia de su maestro Louis Germain, Camus obtuvo una beca en 1924 para continuar sus estudios en un prestigioso liceo (escuela secundaria) cerca de Argel. [5] En 1930, le diagnosticaron tuberculosis . [4] Debido a que se trata de una enfermedad transmitida, se mudó de su casa y se quedó con su tío Gustave Acault, un carnicero, quien influyó en el joven Camus. Fue en ese momento cuando Camus se dedicó a la filosofía, con la tutoría de su profesor de filosofía Jean Grenier . Quedó impresionado por los filósofos griegos antiguos y Friedrich Nietzsche . [4] Durante ese tiempo, solo pudo estudiar a tiempo parcial. Para ganar dinero, aceptó trabajos ocasionales: como tutor privado, empleado de repuestos de automóviles y asistente en el Instituto Meteorológico. [6]
En 1933, Camus se matriculó en la Universidad de Argel y completó su licencia de filosofia ( BA ) en 1936; después de presentar su tesis sobre Plotino . [7] Camus desarrolló un interés en los primeros filósofos cristianos, pero Nietzsche y Arthur Schopenhauer habían allanado el camino hacia el pesimismo y el ateísmo. Camus también estudió novelistas-filósofos como Stendhal , Herman Melville , Fyodor Dostoyevsky y Franz Kafka . [8] En 1933, también conoció a Simone Hié, entonces pareja de un amigo de Camus, quien se convertiría en su primera esposa. [6]
Camus jugó como portero del equipo juvenil Racing Universitaire d'Alger desde 1928 hasta 1930. [9] El sentido de espíritu de equipo, fraternidad y propósito común atrajo enormemente a Camus. [10] En los informes de los partidos, a menudo fue elogiado por jugar con pasión y coraje. Cualquier ambición futbolística desapareció cuando contrajo tuberculosis a la edad de 17 años. [9] Camus trazó paralelismos entre el fútbol, la existencia humana, la moral y la identidad personal. Para él, la moral simplista del fútbol contradecía la moral complicada impuesta por autoridades como el Estado y la Iglesia. [9]
Años formativos
En 1934, a los 20 años, Camus estaba en una relación con Simone Hié. [11] Simone sufría de adicción a la morfina , una droga que usaba para aliviar sus dolores menstruales. Su tío Gustave no aprobó la relación, pero Camus se casó con Hié para ayudarla a combatir su adicción. Posteriormente descubrió que ella estaba en una relación con su médico al mismo tiempo y la pareja se divorció más tarde. [6] Camus fue un mujeriego durante toda su vida. [12]
Camus se unió al Partido Comunista Francés (PCF) a principios de 1935. Lo vio como una forma de "luchar contra las desigualdades entre europeos y 'nativos' en Argelia", aunque no era marxista . Explicó: "Podríamos ver el comunismo como un trampolín y el ascetismo que prepara el terreno para actividades más espirituales". Camus dejó el PCF un año después. [13] En 1936, se fundó el Partido Comunista Argelino (PCA) de mentalidad independiente , y Camus se unió a él después de que su mentor Grenier le aconsejara que lo hiciera. El papel principal de Camus dentro de la PCA era organizar el Théâtre du Travail ("Teatro de los trabajadores"). Camus también estaba cerca del Parti du Peuple Algérien ( Partido del Pueblo Argelino (PPA)), que era un partido anticolonialista / nacionalista moderado. A medida que aumentaban las tensiones en el período de entreguerras , el PCA y el PPA estalinistas rompieron lazos. Camus fue expulsado de la PCA por negarse a seguir la línea del partido. Esta serie de eventos agudizó su creencia en la dignidad humana. Creció la desconfianza de Camus hacia las burocracias que buscaban la eficiencia en lugar de la justicia. Continuó su compromiso con el teatro y rebautizó su grupo como Théâtre de l'Equipe ("Teatro del equipo"). Algunos de sus guiones fueron la base de sus últimas novelas. [14]
En 1938, Camus comenzó a trabajar para el periódico de izquierda Alger républicain (fundado por Pascal Pia ), ya que tenía fuertes sentimientos antifascistas y el surgimiento de regímenes fascistas en Europa le preocupaba. Para entonces, Camus había desarrollado fuertes sentimientos contra el colonialismo autoritario al presenciar el duro trato de los árabes y bereberes por parte de las autoridades francesas. Alger républicain fue prohibido en 1940 y Camus voló a París para tomar un nuevo trabajo en Paris-Soir como editor en jefe. En París, casi completó su "primer ciclo" de obras que tratan sobre lo absurdo y lo sin sentido: la novela L'Étranger ( The Outsider (Reino Unido) o The Stranger (EE. UU.)), El ensayo filosófico Le Mythe de Sisyphe ( The Mito de Sísifo ) y la obra Calígula . Cada ciclo constaba de una novela, un ensayo y una obra de teatro. [15]
Segunda Guerra Mundial, Resistencia y Combate
Poco después de que Camus se mudara a París, el estallido de la Segunda Guerra Mundial comenzó a afectar a Francia. Camus se ofreció como voluntario para unirse al ejército, pero no fue aceptado porque padecía tuberculosis. Mientras los alemanes marchaban hacia París, Camus huyó. Fue despedido de Paris-Soir y terminó en Lyon , donde se casó con la pianista y matemática Francine Faure el 3 de diciembre de 1940. [16] Camus y Faure regresaron a Argelia ( Orán ) donde enseñó en las escuelas primarias. [17] Debido a su tuberculosis, se mudó a los Alpes franceses por consejo médico. Allí comenzó a escribir su segundo ciclo de obras, esta vez sobre la revuelta: una novela La peste ( La peste ) y una obra de teatro Le Malentendu ( El malentendido ). En 1943 era conocido por su trabajo anterior. Regresó a París donde conoció y se hizo amigo de Jean-Paul Sartre . También se convirtió en parte de un círculo de intelectuales que incluía a Simone de Beauvoir , André Breton y otros. Entre ellos se encontraba la actriz María Casares , quien luego tendría un romance con Camus. [18]
Camus tomó un papel activo en el movimiento de resistencia clandestino contra los alemanes durante la ocupación francesa . A su llegada a París, comenzó a trabajar como periodista y editor del periódico prohibido Combat . Continuó escribiendo para el periódico después de la liberación de Francia. [19] Camus usó un seudónimo para sus artículos de Combat y usó tarjetas de identificación falsas para evitar ser capturado. Durante ese período compuso cuatro Lettres à un Ami Allemand ( Cartas a un amigo alemán ), explicando por qué era necesaria la resistencia. [20]
Después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial
Video externo | |
---|---|
Presentación de Olivier Todd sobre Albert Camus: A Life , 15 de diciembre de 1997 , C-SPAN |
Después de la guerra, Camus vivió en París con Faure, quien dio a luz a los gemelos Catherine y Jean en 1945. [21] Camus era ahora un escritor célebre conocido por su papel en la Resistencia. Dio conferencias en varias universidades de Estados Unidos y América Latina durante dos viajes separados. También visitó Argelia una vez más, solo para salir decepcionado por las continuas políticas coloniales opresivas, sobre las que había advertido muchas veces. Durante este período completó el segundo ciclo de su obra, con el ensayo L'Homme révolté ( El rebelde ). Camus atacó al comunismo totalitario mientras defendía el socialismo libertario y el anarcosindicalismo . [22] Molestando a muchos de sus colegas y contemporáneos en Francia por su rechazo al comunismo, el libro provocó la ruptura final con Sartre. Sus relaciones con la izquierda marxista se deterioraron aún más durante la guerra de Argelia . [23]
Camus fue un firme partidario de la integración europea en varias organizaciones marginales que trabajaban con ese fin. [24] En 1944, fundó el Comité français pour la féderation européenne - (CFFE (Comité Francés de la Federación Europea)) - declarando que Europa "solo puede evolucionar por el camino del progreso económico, la democracia y la paz si los estados nacionales conviértase en una federación ". [24] En 1947-1948, fundó los Groupes de Liaison Internationale (GLI), un movimiento sindical en el contexto del sindicalismo revolucionario ( syndicalisme révolutionnaire ). [25] Su principal objetivo era expresar el lado positivo del surrealismo y el existencialismo, rechazando la negatividad y el nihilismo de André Breton. Camus también alzó la voz contra la intervención soviética en Hungría y las tendencias totalitarias del régimen de Franco en España. [24]
Camus tuvo numerosos romances, en particular un romance irregular y eventualmente público con la actriz española María Casares , con quien mantuvo una extensa correspondencia. [26] Faure no se tomó este asunto a la ligera. Tuvo un colapso mental y necesitó hospitalización a principios de la década de 1950. Camus, que se sentía culpable, se retiró de la vida pública y estuvo un poco deprimido durante algún tiempo. [27]
In 1957, Camus received the news that he was to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. This came as a shock to him. He was anticipating André Malraux would win the prestigious award. At age 44, he was the second-youngest recipient of the prize, after Rudyard Kipling, who was 42. After this he began working on his autobiography Le Premier Homme (The First Man) in an attempt to examine "moral learning". He also turned to the theatre once more. [28] Financed by the money he received with his Nobel Prize, he adapted and directed for the stage Dostoyevsky's novel Demons. The play opened in January 1959 at the Antoine Theatre in Paris and was a critical success.[29]
During these years, he published posthumously the works of the philosopher Simone Weil, in the series "Espoir" ("Hope") which he had founded for Éditions Gallimard. Weil had great influence on his philosophy,[30] since he saw her writings as an "antidote" to nihilism.[31][32] Camus described her as "the only great spirit of our times".[33]
Death
Camus died on 4 January 1960 at the age of 46, in a car accident near Sens, in Le Grand Fossard in the small town of Villeblevin. He had spent the New Year's holiday of 1960 at his house in Lourmarin, Vaucluse with his family, and his publisher Michel Gallimard of Éditions Gallimard, along with Gallimard's wife, Janine, and daughter. Camus's wife and children went back to Paris by train on 2 January, but Camus decided to return in Gallimard's luxurious Facel Vega HK500. The car crashed into a plane tree on a long straight stretch of the Route nationale 5 (now the RN 6). Camus, who was in the passenger seat and not wearing a safety belt, died instantly.[34] Gallimard died a few days later, although his wife and daughter were unharmed. There has been speculation that Camus was assassinated by the KGB because of his criticism of Soviet abuses.[35][36]
144 pages of a handwritten manuscript entitled Le premier Homme (The First Man) were found in the wreckage. Camus had predicted that this unfinished novel based on his childhood in Algeria would be his finest work.[21] Camus was buried in the Lourmarin Cemetery, Vaucluse, France, where he had lived. [37] His friend Sartre read a eulogy, paying tribute to Camus's heroic "stubborn humanism".[38] William Faulkner wrote his obituary, saying, "When the door shut for him he had already written on this side of it that which every artist who also carries through life with him that one same foreknowledge and hatred of death, is hoping to do: I was here."[39]
Carrera literaria
Camus's first publication was a play called Révolte dans les Asturies (Revolt in the Asturias) written with three friends in May 1936. The subject was the 1934 revolt by Spanish miners that was brutally suppressed by the Spanish government resulting in 1,500 to 2,000 deaths. In May 1937 he wrote his first book, L'Envers et l'Endroit (Betwixt and Between, also translated as The Wrong Side and the Right Side). Both were published by Edmond Charlot's small publishing house.[40]
Camus separated his work into three cycles. Each cycle consisted of a novel, an essay, and a play. The first was the cycle of the absurd consisting of L'Étranger, Le Mythe de Sysiphe, and Caligula. The second was the cycle of the revolt which included La Peste (The Plague), L'Homme révolté (The Rebel), and Les Justes (The Just Assassins). The third, the cycle of the love, consisted of Nemesis. Each cycle was an examination of a theme with the use of a pagan myth and including biblical motifs.[41]
The books in the first cycle were published between 1942 and 1944, but the theme was conceived earlier, at least as far back as 1936.[42] With this cycle, Camus aims to pose a question on the human condition, discuss the world as an absurd place, and warn humanity of the consequences of totalitarianism.[43]
Camus began his work on the second cycle while he was in Algeria, in the last months of 1942, just as the Germans were reaching North Africa.[44] In the second cycle, Camus used Prometheus, who is depicted as a revolutionary humanist, to highlight the nuances between revolution and rebellion. He analyses various aspects of rebellion, its metaphysics, its connection to politics, and examines it under the lens of modernity, of historicity and the absence of a God.[45]
After receiving the Nobel Prize, Camus gathered, clarified, and published his pacifist leaning views at Actuelles III: Chronique algérienne 1939–1958 (Algerian Chronicles). He then decided to distance himself from the Algerian War as he found the mental burden too heavy. He turned to theatre and the third cycle which was about love and the goddess Nemesis.[28]
Two of Camus's works were published posthumously. The first entitled La mort heureuse (A Happy Death) (1970), features a character named Patrice Mersault, comparable to The Stranger's Meursault. There is scholarly debate about the relationship between the two books. The second was an unfinished novel, Le Premier homme (The First Man) (1995), which Camus was writing before he died. It was an autobiographical work about his childhood in Algeria and its publication in 1994 sparked a widespread reconsideration of Camus's allegedly unrepentant colonialism.[46]
Years | Pagan myth | Biblical motif | Novel | Plays |
---|---|---|---|---|
1937–42 | Sisyphus | Alienation, exile | The Stranger (L'Étranger) | Caligula, The Misunderstanding (Le Malentendu) |
1943–52 | Prometheus | Rebellion | The Plague (La Peste) | The State of Siege (L'État de siège) The Just (Les Justes) |
1952–58 | Guilt, the fall; exile & the kingdom; John the Baptist, Christ | The Fall (La Chute) | Adaptations of The Possessed (Dostoevsky); Faulkner's Requiem for a Nun | |
1958– | Nemesis | The Kingdom | The First Man (Le Premier Homme) |
Postura política
Camus was a moralist; he claimed morality should guide politics. While he did not deny that morals change over time, he rejected the classical Marxist doctrine that history defines morality.[48]
Camus was also strongly critical of authoritarian communism, especially in the case of the Soviet regime, which he considered totalitarian. Camus rebuked Soviet apologists and their "decision to call total servitude freedom".[49] As a proponent of libertarian socialism, he claimed the USSR was not socialist, and the United States was not liberal.[50] His fierce critique of the USSR caused him to clash with others on the political left, most notably with his friend Jean-Paul Sartre.[48]
Active in the French Resistance to the German occupation of France during World War II, Camus wrote for and edited the famous Resistance journal Combat. Of the French collaboration with the German occupiers, he wrote: "Now the only moral value is courage, which is useful here for judging the puppets and chatterboxes who pretend to speak in the name of the people."[51] After France's liberation, Camus remarked, "This country does not need a Talleyrand, but a Saint-Just."[52] The reality of the bloody postwar tribunals soon changed his mind: Camus publicly reversed himself and became a lifelong opponent of capital punishment.[52]
Camus leaned towards anarchism, a tendency that intensified in the 1950s, when he came to believe that the Soviet model was morally bankrupt.[53] Camus was firmly against any kind of exploitation, authority and property, bosses, the State and centralization.[54] Philosophy professor David Sherman considers Camus an anarcho-syndicalist.[55] Graeme Nicholson considers Camus an existentialist anarchist.[56]
The anarchist André Prudhommeaux first introduced him at a meeting of the Cercle des Étudiants Anarchistes ("Anarchist Student Circle") in 1948 as a sympathiser familiar with anarchist thought. Camus wrote for anarchist publications such as Le Libertaire, La Révolution prolétarienne, and Solidaridad Obrera ("Workers' Solidarity"), the organ of the anarcho-syndicalist Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) ("National Confederation of Labor").[57]
Camus kept a neutral stance during the Algerian Revolution (1954–62). While he was against the violence of the National Liberation Front (FLN) he acknowledged the injustice and brutalities imposed by colonialist France. He was supportive of Pierre Mendès' Unified Socialist Party (PSU) and its approach to the crisis;· Mendes advocated reconciliation. Camus also supported a like-minded Algerian militant, Aziz Kessous. Camus traveled to Algeria to negotiate a truce between the two belligerents but was met with distrust by all parties.[58] His confrontation with an Algerian nationalist during his acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize caused a sensation. When confronted with the dilemma of choosing between his mother and justice, his response was: “People are now planting bombs in the tramways of Algiers. My mother might be on one of those tramways. If that is justice, then I prefer my mother.”[59] According to David Sherman, Camus tried to highlight the false dichotomy of the two choices as the use of terrorism and indiscriminate violence could not bring justice under any circumstances.[60] However, his response has been widely misreported as: "I have always condemned terrorism, and I must condemn a terrorism that works blindly in the streets of Algiers and one day might strike at my mother and family. I believe in justice, but I will defend my mother before justice.”[61][60] Camus' critics have labelled the misquoted response as reactionary and a result of a colonialist attitude.[62]
He was sharply critical of the proliferation of nuclear weapons and the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.[63] In the 1950s, Camus devoted his efforts to human rights. In 1952, he resigned from his work for UNESCO when the UN accepted Spain, under the leadership of the caudillo General Francisco Franco, as a member.[27] Camus maintained his pacifism and resisted capital punishment anywhere in the world. He wrote an essay against capital punishment in collaboration with Arthur Koestler, the writer, intellectual, and founder of the League Against Capital Punishment entitled Réflexions sur la peine capitale, published by Calmann-Levy in 1957.[64]
Papel en Argelia
Born in Algeria to French parents, Camus was familiar with the institutional racism of France against Arabs and Berbers, but he was not part of a rich elite. He lived in very poor conditions as a child but was a citizen of France and as such was entitled to citizens' rights; members of the country's Arab and Berber majority were not.[65]
Camus was a vocal advocate of the "new Mediterranean Culture". This was a term he used to describe his vision of embracing the multi-ethnicity of the Algerian people, in opposition to "Latiny", a popular pro-fascist and antisemitic ideology among other Pieds-Noirs—or French or Europeans born in Algeria. For Camus, this vision encapsulated the Hellenic humanism which survived among ordinary people around the Mediterranean Sea.[66] His 1938 address on "The New Mediterranean Culture" represents Camus's most systematic statement of his views at this time. Camus also supported the Blum–Viollette proposal to grant Algerians full French citizenship in a manifesto with arguments defending this assimilative proposal on radical egalitarian grounds. [67] In 1939, Camus wrote a stinging series of articles for the Alger républicain on the atrocious living conditions of the inhabitants of the Kabylie highlands. He advocated for economic, educational and political reforms as a matter of emergency.[68]
In 1945, following the Sétif and Guelma massacre after Arab revolts against French mistreatment, Camus was one of only a few mainland journalists to visit the colony. He wrote a series of articles reporting on conditions, and advocating for French reforms and concessions to the demands of the Algerian people.[69]
When the Algerian War began in 1954, Camus was confronted with a moral dilemma. He identified with the Pieds-Noirs such as his own parents and defended the French government's actions against the revolt. He argued the Algerian uprising was an integral part of the "new Arab imperialism" led by Egypt, and an "anti-Western" offensive orchestrated by Russia to "encircle Europe" and "isolate the United States".[70] Although favoring greater Algerian autonomy or even federation, though not full-scale independence, he believed the Pieds-Noirs and Arabs could co-exist. During the war, he advocated a civil truce that would spare the civilians. It was rejected by both sides who regarded it as foolish. Behind the scenes, he began working for imprisoned Algerians who faced the death penalty.[71] His position drew much criticism from the left and later postcolonial literary critics, such as Edward Said, who were opposed to European imperialism, and charged that Camus's novels and short stories are plagued with colonial depictions - or conscious erasures - of Algeria's Arab population.[72] In their eyes, Camus was no longer the defender of the oppressed.[73]
Camus once confided that the troubles in Algeria "affected him as others feel pain in their lungs."[74]
Filosofía
Existentialism
Even though Camus is mostly connected to Absurdism,[75] he is routinely categorized as an Existentialist, a term he rejected on several occasions.[76]
Camus himself said his philosophical origins lay in ancient Greek philosophy, Nietzsche, and 17th-century moralists whereas existentialism arises from 19th- and early 20th-century philosophy such as Kierkegaard, Karl Jaspers, and Heidegger.[77] He also said his work, The Myth of Sisyphus, was a criticism of various aspects of existentialism.[78] Camus was rejecting existentialism as a philosophy, but his critique was mostly focused on Sartrean existentialism, and to a lesser extent on religious existentialism. He thought that the importance of history held by Marx and Sartre was incompatible with his belief in human freedom.[79] David Sherman and others also suggest the rivalry between Sartre and Camus also played a part in his rejection of existentialism.[80] David Simpson argues further that his humanism and belief in human nature set him apart from the existentialist doctrine that existence precedes essence.[81]
On the other hand, Camus focused most of his philosophy around existential questions. The absurdity of life, the inevitable ending (death) is highlighted in his acts. His belief was that the absurd—life being void of meaning, or man's inability to know that meaning if it were to exist—was something that man should embrace. His anti-Christianity, his commitment to individual moral freedom and responsibility are only a few of the similarities with other existential writers.[82] More importantly, Camus addressed one of the fundamental questions of existentialism: the problem of suicide. He wrote: "There is only one really serious philosophical question, and that is suicide." Camus viewed the question of suicide as arising naturally as a solution to the absurdity of life.[48]
Absurdism
Many existentialist writers have addressed the Absurd, each with their own interpretation of what it is and what makes it important. Kierkegaard explains that the absurdity of religious truths prevents us from reaching God rationally.[83] Sartre recognizes the absurdity of individual experience. Camus's thoughts on the Absurd begin with his first cycle of books and the literary essay The Myth of Sisyphus, (Le Mythe de Sisyphe), his major work on the subject. In 1942 he published the story of a man living an absurd life in L'Étranger. He also wrote a play about the Roman emperor Caligula, pursuing an absurd logic, which was not performed until 1945. His early thoughts appeared in his first collection of essays, L'Envers et l'endroit (Betwixt and Between) in 1937. Absurd themes were expressed with more sophistication in his second collection of essays, Noces (Nuptials), in 1938 and Betwixt and Between. In these essays, Camus reflects on the experience of the Absurd.[84] Aspects of the notion of the Absurd can be found in The Plague.[85]
Camus follows Sartre's definition of the Absurd: "That which is meaningless. Thus man's existence is absurd because his contingency finds no external justification".[83] The Absurd is created because man, who is placed in an unintelligent universe, realises that human values are not founded on a solid external component; or as Camus himself explains, the Absurd is the result of the "confrontation between human need and the unreasonable silence of the world."[86] Even though absurdity is inescapable, Camus does not drift towards nihilism. But the realization of absurdity leads to the question: Why should someone continue to live? Suicide is an option that Camus firmly dismisses as the renunciation of human values and freedom. Rather, he proposes we accept that absurdity is a part of our lives and live with it.[87]
The turning point in Camus's attitude to the Absurd occurs in a collection of four letters to an anonymous German friend, written between July 1943 and July 1944. The first was published in the Revue Libre in 1943, the second in the Cahiers de Libération in 1944, and the third in the newspaper Libertés, in 1945. The four letters were published as Lettres à un ami allemand (Letters to a German Friend) in 1945, and were included in the collection Resistance, Rebellion, and Death.
Camus regretted the continued reference to himself as a "philosopher of the absurd". He showed less interest in the Absurd shortly after publishing Le Mythe de Sisyphe. To distinguish his ideas, scholars sometimes refer to the Paradox of the Absurd, when referring to "Camus's Absurd".[88]
Revolt
Camus is known for articulating the case for revolting against any kind of oppression, injustice, or whatever disrespects the human condition. He is cautious enough, however, to set the limits on the rebellion.[89] L'Homme révolté (The Rebel) explains in detail his thoughts on the issue. There, he builds upon the absurd (described in The Myth of Sisyphus) but goes further. In the introduction, where he examines the metaphysics of rebellion, he concludes with the phrase "I revolt, therefore we exist" implying the recognition of a common human condition.[90] Camus also delineates the difference between revolution and rebellion and notices that history has shown that the rebel's revolution might easily end up as an oppressive regime; he therefore places importance on the morals accompanying the revolution.[91] Camus poses a crucial question: Is it possible for humans to act in an ethical and meaningful manner, in a silent universe? According to him the answer is yes, as the experience and awareness of the Absurd creates the moral values and also sets the limits of our actions.[92] Camus separates the modern form of rebellion into two modes. First, there is the metaphysical rebellion, which is "the movement by which man protests against his condition and against the whole of creation." The other mode, historical rebellion, is the attempt to materialize the abstract spirit of metaphysical rebellion and change the world. In this attempt, the rebel must balance between the evil of the world and the intrinsic evil which every revolt carries, and not cause any unjustifiable suffering.[93]
Legado
Camus's novels and philosophical essays are still influential. After his death, interest in Camus followed the rise (and diminution) of the New Left. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, interest in his alternative road to communism resurfaced.[94] He is remembered for his skeptical humanism and his support for political tolerance, dialogue, and civil rights.[95]
Although Camus has been linked to anti-Soviet communism, reaching as far as anarcho-syndicalism, some neo-liberals have tried to associate him with their policies; for instance, the French President Nicolas Sarkozy suggested that his remains be moved to the Panthéon, an idea that angered many on the Left.[96]
Tributos
- In Tipasa (Algeria), inside the Roman ruins, facing the sea and Mount Chenoua, a stele was erected in 1961 in honor of Albert Camus with this phrase in French extracted from his work Noces à Tipasa: “I understand here what is called glory: the right to love beyond measure " (« Je comprends ici ce qu'on appelle gloire : le droit d'aimer sans mesure. »).[97]
- The French Post published a stamp with his effigy on June 26, 1967.[98]
Obras
The works of Albert Camus include:[99]
Novels
- A Happy Death (La Mort heureuse) (written 1936–38, published 1971)
- The Stranger (L'Étranger, often translated as The Outsider. An alternate meaning of "l'étranger" is "foreigner" ) (1942)
- The Plague (La Peste) (1947)
- The Fall (La Chute) (1956)
- The First Man (Le premier homme) (incomplete, published 1994)
Short stories
- Exile and the Kingdom (L'exil et le royaume) (collection, 1957), containing the following short stories:
- "The Adulterous Woman" (La Femme adultère)
- "The Renegade or a Confused Spirit" (Le Renégat ou un esprit confus)
- "The Silent Men" (Les Muets)
- "The Guest" (L'Hôte)
- "Jonas, or the Artist at Work" (Jonas, ou l'artiste au travail)
- "The Growing Stone" (La Pierre qui pousse)
Academic theses
- Christian Metaphysics and Neoplatonism (Métaphysique chrétienne et néoplatonisme) (1935): the thesis that enabled Camus to teach in secondary schools in France
Non-fiction books
- Betwixt and Between (L'envers et l'endroit, also translated as The Wrong Side and the Right Side) (collection, 1937)
- Nuptials (Noces) (1938)
- The Myth of Sisyphus (Le Mythe de Sisyphe) (1942)
- The Rebel (L'Homme révolté) (1951)
- Algerian Chronicles (Chroniques algériennes) (1958, first English translation published 2013)
- Notebooks 1935–1942 (Carnets, mai 1935 — fevrier 1942) (1962)
- Notebooks 1942–1951 (Carnets II: janvier 1942-mars 1951) (1965)
- American Journals (Journaux de voyage) (1978)
- Notebooks 1951–1959 (2008). Published as Carnets Tome III: Mars 1951 – December 1959 (1989)
- Correspondance (1944–1959) The correspondence of Albert Camus and María Casares, with a preface by his daughter, Catherine Camus (2017).
Plays
- Caligula (performed 1945, written 1938)
- The Misunderstanding (Le Malentendu) (1944)
- The State of Siege (L'État de Siège) (1948)
- The Just Assassins (Les Justes) (1949)
- Requiem for a Nun (Requiem pour une nonne, adapted from William Faulkner's novel by the same name) (1956)
- The Possessed (Les Possédés, adapted from Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novel Demons) (1959)
Essays
- The Crisis of Man (Lecture at Columbia University) (28 March 1946)
- Neither Victims nor Executioners (Series of essays in Combat) (1946)
- Why Spain? (Essay for the theatrical play L'Etat de Siège) (1948)
- Summer (L'Été) (1954)[24]
- Reflections on the Guillotine (Réflexions sur la guillotine) (Extended essay, 1957)[100]
- Create Dangerously (Essay on Realism and Artistic Creation, lecture at the University of Uppsala in Sweden) (1957)[101]
Referencias
- ^ Schrift, Alan D. (2010). "French Nietzscheanism" (PDF). In Schrift, Alan D. (ed.). Poststructuralism and Critical Theory's Second Generation. The History of Continental Philosophy. 6. Durham, UK: Acumen. pp. 19–46. ISBN 978-1-84465-216-7.
- ^ Sherman 2009, p. 10; Hayden 2016, p. 7; Lottman 1979, p. 11; Carroll 2007, pp. 2–3.
- ^ Carroll 2007, pp. 2–3.
- ^ a b c Sherman 2009, p. 11.
- ^ Hayden 2016, p. 8.
- ^ a b c Hayden 2016, p. 9.
- ^ Sherman 2009, p. 11: Camus' thesis was titled "Rapports de l'hellénisme et du christianisme à travers les oeuvres de Plotin et de saint Augustin" ("Relationship of Greek and Christian Thought in Plotinus and St. Augustine") for his diplôme d'études supérieures (roughly equivalent to an MA thesis).
- ^ Simpson 2019, Background and Influences.
- ^ a b c Clarke 2009, p. 488.
- ^ Lattal 1995.
- ^ Cohn 1986, p. 30; Hayden 2016.
- ^ Sherman 2009; Hayden 2016, p. 13.
- ^ Todd 2000, pp. 249–250; Sherman 2009, p. 12.
- ^ Hayden 2016, pp. 10–11.
- ^ Hayden 2016, p. 12; Sherman 2009, pp. 12–13.
- ^ Hayden 2016, pp. 13–14.
- ^ Sherman 2009, p. 13.
- ^ Hayden 2016; Sherman 2009, p. 13.
- ^ Hayden 2016; Sherman 2009, p. 23.
- ^ Hayden 2016, p. 15.
- ^ a b Willsher 2011.
- ^ Hayden 2016, p. 17.
- ^ Hayden 2016, pp. 16–17.
- ^ a b c d Hayden 2016, p. 18.
- ^ Todd 2000, pp. 249–250; Schaffner 2006, p. 107.
- ^ Sherman 2009, pp. 14–17; Zaretsky 2018.
- ^ a b Sherman 2009, p. 17.
- ^ a b Hayden 2016, p. 19.
- ^ Sherman 2009, p. 18.
- ^ Jeanyves GUÉRIN, Guy BASSET (2013). Dictionnaire Albert Camus. Groupe Robert Laffont. ISBN 978-2-221-14017-8.
- ^ Stefan Skrimshire, 2006, A Political Theology of the Absurd? Albert Camus and Simone Weil on Social Transformation, Literature and Theology, Volume 20, Issue 3, September 2006, Pages 286–300
- ^ Rik Van Nieuwenhove, 2005, Albert Camus, Simone Weil and the Absurd, Irish Theological Quarterly, 70, 343
- ^ John Hellman (1983). Simone Weil: An Introduction to Her Thought. Wilfrid Laurier University Press. pp. 1–23. ISBN 978-0-88920-121-7.
- ^ Sherman 2009, p. 19; Simpson 2019, Life.
- ^ Catelli 2019.
- ^ Flood 2019.
- ^ Bloom 2009, p. 52.
- ^ Simpson 2019, Life.
- ^ "Without God or Reason | Commonweal Magazine". www.commonwealmagazine.org. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
- ^ Hayden 2016, p. 11.
- ^ Sharpe 2015, pp. 41–44.
- ^ Hayden 2016, p. 23.
- ^ Hayden 2016, p. 41.
- ^ Hayden 2016, p. 14.
- ^ Hayden 2016, pp. 45–47.
- ^ Carroll 2007.
- ^ Sharpe 2015, p. 44.
- ^ a b c Aronson 2017, Introduction.
- ^ Foley 2008, pp. 75–76.
- ^ Sherman 2009, pp. 185–87.
- ^ Bernstein 1997.
- ^ a b Bronner 2009, p. 74.
- ^ Dunwoodie 1993, p. 86; Marshall 1993, p. 445.
- ^ Dunwoodie 1993, p. 87.
- ^ Sherman 2009, p. 185.
- ^ Nicholson 1971, p. 14.
- ^ Dunwoodie 1993, pp. 87-87: See also appendix p 97; Hayden 2016, p. 18.
- ^ Sherman 2009, pp. 17–18 & 188; Cohn 1986, pp. 30 & 38.
- ^ "Resistance, Rebellion, and Writing". www.bookforum.com. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
- ^ a b Sherman 2009, p. 191.
- ^ "Resistance, Rebellion, and Writing". www.bookforum.com. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
- ^ Sherman 2009, p. 19; Simpson 2019; Marshall 1993, p. 584.
- ^ Hayden 2016, p. 87.
- ^ Hayden 2016, p. 73 & 85.
- ^ Carroll 2007, pp. 3–4.
- ^ Hayden 2016, p. 141-143.
- ^ Hayden 2016, p. 145.
- ^ Sharpe 2015, p. 356.
- ^ Foley 2008, pp. 150–151.
- ^ Sharpe 2015, p. 322.
- ^ Foley 2008, p. 161.
- ^ Amin 2021, pp. 31-32.
- ^ Carroll 2007, pp. 7–8.
- ^ Sharpe 2015, p. 9.
- ^ Sherman 2009, p. 3.
- ^ Sharpe 2015, p. 3; Sherman 2009, p. 3.
- ^ Foley 2008, pp. 1–2; Sharpe 2015, p. 29.
- ^ Foley 2008, pp. 2.
- ^ Foley 2008, p. 3; Sherman 2009, p. 3.
- ^ Sherman 2009, p. 4; Simpson 2019, Existentialism.
- ^ Simpson 2019, Existentialism.
- ^ Sharpe 2015, pp. 5–6; Simpson 2019, Existentialism.
- ^ a b Foley 2008, pp. 5–6.
- ^ Sherman 2009, p. 23.
- ^ Sherman 2009, p. 8.
- ^ Foley 2008, p. 6.
- ^ Foley 2008, p. 7-10.
- ^ Curtis 1972, p. 335-348.
- ^ Sharpe 2015, p. 18; Simpson 2019, Revolt.
- ^ Foley 2008, pp. 55–56.
- ^ Foley 2008, pp. 56–58.
- ^ Hayden 2016, pp. 43–44.
- ^ Hayden 2016, pp. 50–55.
- ^ Sherman 2009, pp. 207–208.
- ^ Sharpe 2015, pp. 241–242.
- ^ Zaretsky 2013, pp. 3–4; Sherman 2009, p. 208.
- ^ https://tipaza.typepad.fr/mon_weblog/2012/10/au-sujet-de-la-st%C3%A8le-de-camus-dans-les-ruines-de-tipaza.html
- ^ https://www.laposte.fr/toutsurletimbre/connaissance-du-timbre/dicotimbre/timbres/albert-camus-1514
- ^ Hughes 2007, p. xvii.
- ^ Hayden 2016, p. 86.
- ^ Sharpe 2015, p. 20.
Fuentes
- Amin, Nasser (2021). "The Colonial Politics of the Plague: Reading Camus in 2020" (PDF). Journal of Contemporary Development & Management Studies. 9 Spring 2021: 28–38.
- Aronson, Ronald (2017). "Albert Camus". In Edward N. Zalta (ed.). The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- Bernstein, Richard (19 December 1997). "In Camus's notebooks and letters, as quoted in, 'Albert Camus: A Life', By Olivier Todd". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 10 May 2006.
- Bloom, Harold (2009). Albert Camus. Infobase Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4381-1515-3.
- Bronner, Stephen Eric (2009). Camus: Portrait of a Moralist. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-07567-9.
- Carroll, David (4 May 2007). Albert Camus the Algerian: Colonialism, Terrorism, Justice. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-51176-6.
- Catelli, Giovanni (2019). La mort de Camus [The death of Camus] (in French). Balland. ISBN 978-2-940632-01-5.
- Clarke, Liam (2009). "Football as a metaphor: learning to cope with life, manage emotional illness and maintain health through to recovery". Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing. Wiley. 16 (5): 488–492. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2850.2009.01403.x. ISSN 1351-0126. PMID 19538606.
- Cohn, Robert Greer (1986). "The True Camus". The French Review. 60 (1): 30–38. JSTOR 393607.
- Curtis, Jerry L. (1 August 1972). "The absurdity of rebellion". Man and World. 5 (3): 335–348. doi:10.1007/bf01248640. ISSN 0025-1534. S2CID 144571561.
- Dunwoodie, Peter (1993). "Albert Camus and the Anarchist Alternative". Australian Journal of French Studies. Liverpool University Press. 30 (1): 84–104. doi:10.3828/ajfs.30.1.84. ISSN 0004-9468.
- Flood, Alison (5 December 2019). "New book claims Albert Camus was murdered by the KGB". The Guardian.
- Foley, John (2008). Albert Camus: From the Absurd to Revolt. McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN 978-0-7735-3467-4.
- Hayden, Patrick (9 February 2016). Camus and the Challenge of Political Thought: Between Despair and Hope. Springer. ISBN 978-1-137-52583-3.
- Hughes, Edward J. (26 April 2007). The Cambridge Companion to Camus. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-139-82734-8.
- Lattal, Ashley (1995). "Albert Camus". Users.muohio.edu. Retrieved 17 October 2009.
- Lottman, Herbert (1979). Albert Camus: A Biography. Axis. ISBN 978-1-870845-12-0.
- Marshall, Peter H. (1993). Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism. Fontana. ISBN 978-0-00-686245-1.
- Nicholson, Graeme (1971). "Camus and Heidegger: Anarchists". University of Toronto Quarterly. 41: 14–23. doi:10.3138/utq.41.1.14. S2CID 154840020. Archived from the original on 4 May 2019. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
- Schaffner, Alain (2006). Agnès Spiquel (ed.). Albert Camus: l'exigence morale : hommage à Jacqueline Lévi-Valensi (L'esprit des lettres) (in French). Editions Le Manuscrit. ISBN 978-2-7481-7101-3.
- Sharpe, Matthew (3 September 2015). Camus, Philosophe: To Return to our Beginnings. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-30234-1.
- Sherman, David (30 January 2009). Camus. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-4443-0328-5.
- Simpson, David (2019). "Albert Camus (1913–1960)". The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. ISSN 2161-0002.
- Todd, Olivier (2000). Albert Camus: A Life. Carroll & Graf. ISBN 978-0-7867-0739-3.
- Willsher, Kim (7 August 2011). "Albert Camus might have been killed by the KGB for criticising the Soviet Union, claims newspaper". The Guardian.
- Zaretsky, Robert (2018). "'No Longer the Person I Was': The Dazzling Correspondence of Albert Camus and Maria Casarès". Los Angeles Review of Books.
- Zaretsky, Robert (7 November 2013). A Life Worth Living. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-72837-0.
Otras lecturas
Selected biographies
- Thody, Philip Malcolm Waller (1957). Albert Camus: A Study of His Work. Hamish Hamilton.
- Brisville, Jean-Claude (1959). Camus. Gallimard.
- Parker, Emmett (1965). Albert Camus: The Artist in the Arena. Univ of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 978-0-299-03554-9.
- King, Adele (1964). Albert Camus. Grove Press.
- McCarthy, Patrick (1982). Camus: A Critical Study of His Life and Work. Hamish Hamilton. ISBN 978-0-241-10603-7.
- Sprintzen, David (February 1991). Camus: A Critical Examination. Temple University Press. ISBN 978-0-87722-827-1.
- King, Adele (12 June 1992). Camus's L'Etranger: Fifty Years on. Palgrave Macmillan UK. ISBN 978-1-349-22003-8.
- Bloom, Harold (2009). Albert Camus. Infobase Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4381-1515-3.
- Pierre Louis Rey (2006). Camus: l'homme révolté. Gallimard. ISBN 978-2-07-031828-5.
- Hawes, Elizabeth (2009). Camus, a Romance. Grove Press. ISBN 978-0-8021-1889-9.
- Carroll, Sean B. (2013). Brave Genius: A Scientist, a Philosopher, and Their Daring Adventures from the French Resistance to the Nobel Prize. Crown Publishers. ISBN 978-0-307-95234-9.
enlaces externos
- Albert Camus. Selective and Cumulative Bibliography
- Gay-Crosier Camus collection at University of Florida Library
- Albert Camus Society UK
- Works by Albert Camus at Faded Page (Canada)
- Albert Camus on Nobelprize.org