In 1959 formality in France and its use of address 'tu 'and 'vous' were of much more importance than now. It is unfair to criticise Camus in the light of today and by the mores of a non French culture which has this formality still.
Carroll, David. Albert Camus the Algerian: Colonialism, Terrorism, Justice. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007. .... David Carroll's new book on Camus is an important contribution not only to Camus studies but to contemporary reflections on postcolonial theory. The book is a model of scholarship and erudition, and it is also the record of a personal change in point of view. After reading the attacks on Camus's politics that branded him a "colonialist sympathizer" (in their different ways, Albert Memmi, Conor Cruise O'Brien, and Edward Said enact this form of criticism in their respective studies), Carroll set out to re-read Camus and to discover for himself the degree to which these attacks and criticisms could be called justified, the degree to which they were grounded in a serious and nuanced reading of Camus's writings - both the journalistic essays and the fictions that deal primarily with Algeria. Not the least of the many qualities displayed in Albert Camus the Algerian is the intellectual honesty of its author. Whereas Carroll demonstrates, convincingly as far as I am concerned, that O'Brien and Said were off the mark in their attacks (and essentially, that they did not read Camus).
Geoff Dyer obviously is a fan of writers( Lawrence, Orwell, Camus, Berger) who've had a great moral sense. He worships these writers like a jazz fan worships great jazz players. He loved in Camus the sun worship, the naivety, the joy in life and the senses, whilst also being aware of how the allegorical fiction breaks down on closer examination to betray what is hidden, unsaid about the French colonial experiment and occupation in Algeria, which Camus is unwittingly complicit with. He seems drawn more to the marvelous essays for their lyricism. He mentions the Outsider and Camus turning the French fear of the impenetrable Arabs into his own love of France and French culture. I think if he hadn't done this talk he would have coughed up a book on Camus similar to the one he wrote on Lawrence. His anecdote of visiting Algeria and Camus' birth house was interesting ( even though it was on commission). I feel he takes his critical readings by Judt, Said, and O'Brien as elaborating his more in-depth re-readings of Camus say vis-a-vis his mother and Algeria. His picks up on the pomposity of Camus, his old-fashioned, oracular style of writing,closer to the 19th century than the 20th century. The way the obligations of French writers to be intellectuals, with their opinions demanded on every political subject, was something that Camus wanted to resist. The fact that stands out is that all these writers were in some sense outsiders to the politics of their cultures( including Raymond Williams).
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“The last good man in France.” - Hannah Arendt’s comment on Camus in the 1950s.
In 1959 formality in France and its use of address 'tu 'and 'vous' were of much more importance than now. It is unfair to criticise Camus in the light of today and by the mores of a non French culture which has this formality still.
Carroll, David. Albert Camus the Algerian: Colonialism, Terrorism,
Justice. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007. .... David Carroll's
new book on Camus is an important contribution not only to Camus
studies but to contemporary reflections on postcolonial theory. The book
is a model of scholarship and erudition, and it is also the record of a
personal change in point of view. After reading the attacks on Camus's
politics that branded him a "colonialist sympathizer" (in their
different ways, Albert Memmi, Conor Cruise O'Brien, and Edward Said
enact this form of criticism in their respective studies), Carroll set
out to re-read Camus and to discover for himself the degree to which
these attacks and criticisms could be called justified, the degree to
which they were grounded in a serious and nuanced reading of Camus's
writings - both the journalistic essays and the fictions that deal
primarily with Algeria. Not the least of the many qualities displayed in
Albert Camus the Algerian is the intellectual honesty of its author.
Whereas Carroll demonstrates, convincingly as far as I am concerned,
that O'Brien and Said were off the mark in their attacks (and
essentially, that they did not read Camus).
Geoff Dyer obviously is a fan of writers( Lawrence, Orwell, Camus, Berger) who've had a great moral sense. He worships these writers like a jazz fan worships great jazz players. He loved in Camus the sun worship, the naivety,
the joy in life and the senses, whilst also being aware of how the allegorical fiction breaks down on closer examination
to betray what is hidden, unsaid about the French colonial experiment and occupation in Algeria, which Camus is
unwittingly complicit with. He seems drawn more to the marvelous essays for their lyricism. He mentions the Outsider
and Camus turning the French fear of the impenetrable Arabs into his own love of France and French culture. I think
if he hadn't done this talk he would have coughed up a book on Camus similar to the one he wrote on Lawrence. His anecdote of visiting Algeria and Camus' birth house was interesting ( even though it was on commission). I feel he takes his critical readings by Judt, Said, and O'Brien as elaborating his more in-depth re-readings of Camus say vis-a-vis his mother and Algeria. His picks up on the pomposity of Camus, his old-fashioned, oracular style of writing,closer to the 19th century than the 20th century. The way the obligations of French writers to be intellectuals, with their opinions demanded on every political subject, was something that Camus wanted to resist. The fact that stands out
is that all these writers were in some sense outsiders to the politics of their cultures( including Raymond Williams).
Nothing dodgy about the politics of Orwell or Camus.