Algerian Chronicles - Rilegato

Camus, Albert

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0674072588 ISBN 13: 9780674072589

Casa editrice: Belknap Pr, 2013

Riassunto

More than fifty years after Algerian independence, Albert Camus’ Algerian Chronicles appears here in English for the first time. Published in France in 1958, the same year the Algerian War brought about the collapse of the Fourth French Republic, it is one of Camus’ most political works—an exploration of his commitments to Algeria. Dismissed or disdained at publication, todayAlgerian Chronicles, with its prescient analysis of the dead end of terrorism, enjoys a new life in Arthur Goldhammer’s elegant translation.

“Believe me when I tell you that Algeria is where I hurt at this moment,” Camus, who was the most visible symbol of France’s troubled relationship with Algeria, writes, “as others feel pain in their lungs.” Gathered here are Camus’ strongest statements on Algeria from the 1930s through the 1950s, revised and supplemented by the author for publication in book form.

In her introduction, Alice Kaplan illuminates the dilemma faced by Camus: he was committed to the defense of those who suffered colonial injustices, yet was unable to support Algerian national sovereignty apart from France. An appendix of lesser-known texts that did not appear in the French edition complements the picture of a moralist who posed questions about violence and counter-violence, national identity, terrorism, and justice that continue to illuminate our contemporary world.

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Recensione:

Essentially, Algerian Chronicles surveys the making of a metaphysical rebel, Camus himself. In his world, like ours, riven by mindless extremism and terrorism, he sought moderation, toleration and humanity. He is being reread today, without post-colonial prejudice, as a means to engage our comparable metaphysical condition. 'The role of the intellectual is to seek by his own lights to make out the respective limits of force and justice in each camp, ' he contended in 1958. 'It is to explain the meaning of words in such a way as to sober minds and calm fanaticisms, even if this means working against the grain.' Algerian Chronicles reminds that Camus accepted that lonely, singular role with inspiring courage and commitment. --Phillip C. Naylor, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (05/03/2013)

[...] better placed than any of his french comrades on the French Left to appreciate the inadequacy of the opposition they drew between cruel colonists and a suffering Arab mass. Day after Day, he says, these simplifications prove, in a sort of reductio absurdum, that the Algeria the French and the Arabs are condemned either to live together or die together.Whether he was ultimately right is open to question: he certainly paid a high price for his nuanced view of the situation. --Michael Kerrigan, The Scotsman, 25/05/2013

Arthur Goldhammer's brilliant translation of Actuelles III (the collection's original title) appears at a moment when Camus's writings have tragic resonance for events today in that part of the world [...] [Camus] concludes his book 'is amongst other things a history of a failure'. But noble failures like the Algerian Chronicles are both timeless and timely. --Robert Zaretsky, Times Literary Supplement, 11/10/2013

The last time [Camus] had spoken out on Algeria had been in January 1956 on a visit to Algiers, when he had called for a civilian truce between French colonialists and the Arab-dominated National Liberation Front (FLN). For his trouble he received death threats from the colonialists and scornful rejection by the FLN. At the risk of being labeled a coward, Camus decided to keep his peace. This silence lasted until 1958 when he published Actuelles III, a selection of essays and articles outlining his position on Algeria. Some of these writings were translated into English for Resistance, Rebellion and Death (1960) but others, such as his early forays into journalism for the anti-colonialist newspaper Alger Républicain, appear for the first time in this new translation of the 1958 collection. Algerian Chronicles also includes two letters that Camus wrote to French president René Coty in 1957 beseeching him to pardon several captured FLN members. That Camus should have been working behind the scenes to save the separatists whose violence he so abhorred speaks volumes about this complex man. --Tobias Grey, Financial Times, 03/05/2013

"[...] authoritatively edited by Alice Kaplan [...] from meticulous reports on poverty and prejudice in 1930s Kabylia to the great speech in Algiers in 1956, when right-wing t --Tobias Grey, Financial Times, 03/05/2013

The book, beautifully translated by Arthur Goldhammer and introduced by Alice Kaplan, has a probity and an eloquence that makes it an enthralling read as the post-colonial Muslim world further unravels around us. --The Tablet

The last time [Camus] had spoken out on Algeria had been in January 1956 on a visit to Algiers, when he had called for a civilian truce between French colonialists and the Arab-dominated National Liberation Front (FLN). For his trouble he received death threats from the colonialists and scornful rejection by the FLN. At the risk of being labeled a coward, Camus decided to keep his peace. This silence lasted until 1958 when he published Actuelles III, a selection of essays and articles outlining his position on Algeria. Some of these writings were translated into English for Resistance, Rebellion and Death (1960) but others, such as his early forays into journalism for the anti-colonialist newspaper Alger Républicain, appear for the first time in this new translation of the 1958 collection. Algerian Chronicles also includes two letters that Camus wrote to French president René Coty in 1957 beseeching him to pardon several captured FLN members. That Camus should have been working behind the scenes to save the separatists whose violence he so abhorred speaks volumes about this complex man. --Tobias Grey, Financial Times, 03/05/2013

L'autore:

Albert Camus (1913-1960), Algerian-French novelist, essayist, and playwright, won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Belknap Pr
• Data di pubblicazione: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0674072588
• ISBN 13: 9780674072589
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 224