Paris is firing all its ammunition into the August night. Against a vast backdrop of water and stone, on both sides of a river awash with history, freedom's barricades are once again being erected. Once again justice must be redeemed with men's blood.
Albert Camus (1913-1960) wrote these words in August 1944, as Paris was being liberated from German occupation. Although best known for his novels including The Stranger and The Plague, it was his vivid descriptions of the horrors of the occupation and his passionate defense of freedom that in fact launched his public fame.
Now, for the first time in English, Camus at 'Combat' presents all of Camus' World War II resistance and early postwar writings published in Combat, the resistance newspaper where he served as editor-in-chief and editorial writer between 1944 and 1947. These 165 articles and editorials show how Camus' thinking evolved from support of a revolutionary transformation of postwar society to a wariness of the radical left alongside his longstanding strident opposition to the reactionary right. These are poignant depictions of issues ranging from the liberation, deportation, justice for collaborators, the return of POWs, and food and housing shortages, to the postwar role of international institutions, colonial injustices, and the situation of a free press in democracies. The ideas that shaped the vision of this Nobel-prize winning novelist and essayist are on abundant display.
More than fifty years after the publication of these writings, they have lost none of their force. They still speak to us about freedom, justice, truth, and democracy.
Context 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.
Truly powerful collection 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.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Tailipoe
Trevor
