Skip to main content
City of Melbourne Libraries

Algerian chronicles

Camus, Albert, 1913-19602013
Book
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, today Algerian 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.
Main title:
Algerian chronicles / Albert Camus ; translated by Arthur Goldhammer ; with an introduction by Alice Kaplan.
Imprint:
Cambridge, Mass. : Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2013.
Collation:
xii, 224 p. ; 22 cm.
Notes:
Originally published in French: Paris : Gallimard, 1958.Includes bibliographical references and index.Translated from the French.
Contents:
Preface. The misery of Kabylia. Destitution -- Destitution (continued) -- Wages -- Education -- The political future -- The economic and social future -- Conclusion. Crisis in Algeria. Crisis in Algeria -- Famine in Algeria -- Ships and justice -- The political malaise -- The party of the manifesto -- Conclusion -- Letter to an Algerian militant. Algeria torn. The missing -- The round table -- A clear conscience -- The true surrender -- The adversary's reasons -- November 1 -- A truce for civilians -- The party of truce -- Call for a civilian truce in Algeria. The Maisonseul affair. Letter to Le Monde -- Govern! Algeria 1958. Algeria 1958 -- The new Algeria. Appendix. Indigenous culture : the new Mediterranean culture -- Men stricken from the rolls of humanity -- Letter from Camus to Le Monde -- Draft of a letter to Encounter -- Two letters to Rene Coty -- The Nobel Prize press conference incident.
ISBN:
0674072588 (alk paper)978067441675806744167599780674072589 (alk paper)
Dewey class:
965.04
LC class:
DT295
Language:
EnglishFrench
BRN:
43281
LocationCollectionCall numberStatus/Desc
Kathleen Syme Carlton-HistoryHISTORY 965.04 CAMUAvailable
Clear current selections
items currently selected
View my active Pick list
490Items in my active Pick list