“The Complete Notebooks” by Albert Camus (translated by Ryan Bloom), a 700-page collection of the philosopher’s private writings from 1935 to 1959.
The following is a summary of the New York Times review of “The Complete Notebooks” by Albert Camus (translated by Ryan Bloom), a 700-page collection of the philosopher’s private writings from 1935 to 1959.
Critical Reception and Comparison
The review contrasts two historical perspectives on Camus’s notebooks:
A.J. Liebling: Praised them as “intensely enjoyable” and a source of constant pleasure.
Sontag: Dismissed them as “not great,” “sketchy,” and “impersonal,” arguing that Camus was not a thinker of importance.
Reviewer’s Verdict: Despite being a fan of Liebling, the reviewer sides with Sontag, finding the full collection dense and occasionally tedious.
Nature of the Content
Not a Diary: The notebooks contain almost no information about Camus’s family, friends, or personal experiences during World War II.
Intellectual Focus: They serve as a “commonplace book” containing philosophical musings, reading notes (from Milton to Rosa Luxemburg), and early drafts for novels like The Stranger and The Plague.
Private Persona: Entries reveal a man who found gossip repellent and was overwhelmed by his 1957 Nobel Prize win, which triggered panic attacks.
Key Themes and Insights
Professional Vocation: Camus writes extensively on the discipline of writing and his disdain for critics, noting that years of work can be ridiculed in five lines.
Sensualism and Travel: The notebooks capture his Mediterranean spirit, his love for the sun and swimming, and his observations from travels in the Americas.
Illness and Mortality: Tuberculosis is a recurring motif; he describes travel as an “ascetic experience” driven by fear.
Political and Social Views: He famously preferred “committed people to committed literature” and expressed a “husbandly reasonableness” regarding human decency.
Publication Details
Title: The Complete Notebooks
Author: Albert Camus (Translated by Ryan Bloom)
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Format: 704 pages, $45.00.
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