Personal Writings

This collection includes Albert Camus’s most influential and enduring personal writings, reorganized and recontextualized, and with a foreword by Camus scholar Alice Kaplan.

Perhaps the most important philosopher of the twentieth century, Albert Camus (1913–1960), winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, is more relevant today than ever before. Personal Writings brings together, for the first time, thematically-linked essays from across Camus’s writing career that reflect the scope of his personal preoccupations. Featuring a foreword by acclaimed Camus scholar Alice Kaplan (author of Looking for the Stranger), this volume will introduce a new generation of readers to a cultural icon.
 
“A collection of brief, piercing personal pieces by the 1957 Nobel laureate. . . . Camus reveals himself to readers, discussing his affections, regrets, memories, problems, complaints, and ideas about art and writing. . . . What will strike many readers is the author’s extraordinarily evocative language, his astonishing facility to create memorable phrases and take readers to places most have never been but who, because of his artistry, feel immediately at home. . . . Much eloquent—often lyrical—evidence that the author deserved his Nobel Prize.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)