Monday, September 20, 2010

Camus, A Romance

Say you’re a college student studying philosophy and you spend hours trawling through Kant and Heidegger and Plato and even Sartre and maybe a female philosopher now and then and then you hit upon Camus with his melty good looks, his melancholy expression and his cute out-of-proportion ear. You are going to sit up and pay attention. He looks approachable, modern, if a bit retro. There’s no denying Albert Camus was an attractive man, a writer who was also a philosopher and moralist and who was fated to be an intellectual sex symbol. If he’d been American, Marilyn Monroe would have eaten him whole.

Elizabeth Hawes was writing her thesis on Camus when he died in a car crash. In college, she developed an obsession for him that lapsed, but never died out. Later in life, it was rekindled when she read the posthumous “The First Man.” She resolved to write a biography, but one that would allow her to actually befriend him, even find intimacy with him. Her own motives figure in the book, and I couldn’t help but ask– is Hawes a stalker? It is a bit off-kilter how she goes off in search of Camus “the man,” how she sometimes feels they’re walking along together, or she remembers one of his jokes and laughs. It’s only her professed admiration for Camus that makes sleuthing seem occasionally like stalking. Many biographers are motivated by a desire to get closer to their subject, they just don’t come out and say it.

Despite her confessed idolization, she’s not a gusher. She gives the reader enough distance, and a number of times when she entered the book I was HAPPY to see her. I admired her devotion and scholarship, and although I'd recommend this book above all to people who have an interest in Camus, existentialism or French Algeria, it is an accessible portrait of the times. While I was interested in Camus, I was more interested in experiencing postwar Europe from "his" perspective, socially and philosophically.

For all the warmth she brings her subject, Hawes’ obsession wasn’t contagious. I didn’t feel smitten. I thought Camus’ philandering, for example, was a huge weakness. I didn’t want to mother him through his tubercular suffering. When the big blowout between Sartre and Camus went down, I don’t think he handled it well, even though I sided with him. (Sartre, what an asshole! And with time Camus is vindicated, a major part of the conflict having centered on Sartre’s support of Stalin(ism). As it’s revealed what a monster Stalin is, Sartre defends himself by saying he was “right to be wrong.” Gawd, as my 10-grade English teacher would say: ship him off to 1950’s Russia and we’ll see how he feels about it then!)

Besides getting pretty darn close to the breathing&eating Camus, I liked how the book evoked the postwar atmosphere. I also never knew Camus was a bosom buddy of the poet René Char, a favorite of mine, or that the fallout with Sartre had so much to do with Russia. For all the warmth Hawes’ book brings to Camus, however, nothing brings him to life like his work. Two-thirds through this I picked up “The Stranger” and remembered what made Camus marvelous. Not his ear or his tuberculosis or the sultry cigarette dangling from his mug, but his writings.

(Full disclosure: I gladly read and reviewed this book on request!)

12 comments:

Kass said...

Such an expressively human review!

Kathleen said...

Enjoyed this.

Camus--particularly The Stranger--is always on the Select New Arrivals shelf at Babbitt's because it is always in demand.

Anonymous said...

I like the review, Sarah. Makes
me want to read him.

johanna

SarahJane said...

Kathleen, "The Stranger" was really terrific. I was glad I picked it back up. I understand it's part of the curriculum in some high schools. It wasn't in mine, but I think it's a good choice.

translation service said...

Life is always the best to the Campus where we can have the best days in our life with friends that can never be forgeted.The studies,talking,romance,new culture and many more all this thing hit the life and life look beautiful ever.

ron hardy said...

Albert Campus will never be forgetted by me. He hit the life or it hit him. I know he push a big rock on a hill and he was not any sisy.

SarahJane said...

This secret is it's a styrofoam rock. It's spray-painted grey and it looks huge, but you could use it to play finger soccer.

ron hardy said...

Yes, I think Campus was the inspiration for the Hulk. Props are important in a good existential life. I go to work in the morning riding a unicycle and juggling bowling pins. The bowling pins are made from balsa and I break them on my head when I get to work.

Toronto Apartments for Rent said...

Campus life is really an interesting life. A time which we spend with our friends are unforgeable time for us, those day which we enjoyed in campus life is very rememberable days for me.

Mantek said...

The school was the inspiration for the Hulk. Support are important for a good life existential. I will work in the morning riding a unicycle and juggling bowling pins. The pins are made of balsa wood and break my head when I'm at work.

hp coupon code said...

Life is always better to campus, where there may be the best day of our lives with friends, can never forgeted.The studies, talk, romance, a new culture, and many others, this thing hit the life insurance and always beautiful.

shop supplies said...

There's no doubting Camus was an eye-catching man, a creator who was also a thinker and moralist and who was fated to be an perceptive icon.

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