Albert Camus
A Life
Published on 12. November 1998
Book
Paperback/Softback
448 pages
978-0-09-974911-0 (ISBN)
Description
Albert Camus is among the most significant French writers of the twentieth century. His novels, The Plague and The Outsider, have a timeless power and appeal and are studied all over the world, and his philosophical work has had an enduring influence. Oliver Todd has been authorised by Camus' family to write the definitive life.
Opening with his impoverished childhood in Algiers, Todd brings the historical context to life, shedding light on Camus' later agonising conflict between sympathy for the working class Algerians and for the French colonials with a stake in their adopted land. His was a life of impossible choices and perpetual struggle, from his intimacy with the Gallimard family, despite their collaborationist activities, and his involvement in the conflict between Satre and de Beauvoir; to his own battles with debilitating bouts of tuberculosis and the passionate, restless nature that would never let him settle.
With an extraordinary grasp of both his subject and his times, Todd brings to this rich, generous biography a rare immediacy and perception, evoking a great writer and his world with memorable force and engaging subtlety.
Opening with his impoverished childhood in Algiers, Todd brings the historical context to life, shedding light on Camus' later agonising conflict between sympathy for the working class Algerians and for the French colonials with a stake in their adopted land. His was a life of impossible choices and perpetual struggle, from his intimacy with the Gallimard family, despite their collaborationist activities, and his involvement in the conflict between Satre and de Beauvoir; to his own battles with debilitating bouts of tuberculosis and the passionate, restless nature that would never let him settle.
With an extraordinary grasp of both his subject and his times, Todd brings to this rich, generous biography a rare immediacy and perception, evoking a great writer and his world with memorable force and engaging subtlety.
Reviews / Votes
Clear eyed, compendious, with full access to the Camus archive, [Albert Camus] fulfilled every expectation... Todd's biography is both remarkably thorough and candid, and will prove indispensable to all those interested in Camus' life... completely fascinating -- William Boyd * Daily Telegraph * The biography of the season... Mesmerising * Observer * Todd, in this first authorised, definitive life - and one which is unlikely to be surpassed - reveals Camus to be far more fun that one would expect the author of L'Etranger to be * Time Out * Todd has spared no pains in his search for significant details... it is difficult to imagine that there can ever be a more exhaustive study of Camus' personality and of the relationship between his work and his life * New York Review of Books * With admirable detachment, Olivier Todd has told us how and why Camus wrote and lived so magnificently -- Tom Rosenthal * Daily Mail * With the publication of his massive biography, Albert Camus: A Life, Todd does some serious unveiling of the Algiers slum kid who, at 43, became the second youngest Nobel Prize winner in history -- Peter Lennon * Guardian * Albert Camus offers a lively, richly detailed portrait of this talented, meditative, self-critical, depressive, playful, ribald, vulnerable and unstable man -- Eugene Weber * Wall Street Journal *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Vintage Publishing
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 27 mm
Weight
530 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-09-974911-0 (9780099749110)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
05/2015
1st Edition
Vintage Digital
€12.99
Available for download
Person
Olivier Todd was educated at the Sorbonne and Cambridge, and is a journalist and award winning writer. He is the author of several acclaimed books and biographies. He lives in Paris.