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A review by robk
The First Man by Albert Camus
5.0
The First Man stands apart from the rest of Camus's works in my opinion. Most of Camus's writing weighs heavy with philosophy, and while there's plenty to think about in this book, The First Man reads more like a memoir of the author's childhood than an allegory on absurdism.
The First Man is a roman a clef that illustrates the amazingly humble childhood of a great philosopher and writer. The novel was unfinished at the time of Camus's death, and, interestingly, it has been published with the author's annotations, footnotes, endnotes and sketches. At one point, Camus mistakenly used his last name instead of the main character's, which speaks to how closely some of the events described in the book resemble the author's life.
And an amazing life it was. Months after Camus, known in the novel as Jacques Cormery, was born, his father died in action in World War I. Thus, the burden of raising Jacques fell on his deaf and blind mother. Jacques's grandmother helped rear the child, however, while the mother worked as a laundress for the neighbors. This made for a rather abject living condition, and the way Camus describes growing up in poverty is eye-opening and heartbreaking.
Fortunately, Jacques was a gifted student, and his teacher helped him get a scholarship to attend secondary school--which enabled him to eventually rise out of his poverty.
Ugh, my review is making The First Man sound like a Ragged Dick story, which it is not because it isn't so much about escaping poverty in terms of wealth, it is about escaping poverty in terms of life. Camus describes his native Algeria as a place where:
He goes on to say:
The First Man explains how Camus became 'the first man' by becoming a self-actualized, moral, social human being. It is a process we all go through, and it works in stages.
To help us through the stages of life, we must rely on the wisdom of others, and in The First Man, Camus describes the illuminating quality of literature, saying that he devoured library books indiscriminately and copiously, "retaining just about nothing, except a strange and powerful emotion, that, over the years, would give birth to and nurture a whole universe of ideas and memories that never yielded to the reality of [his] daily life."
Camus's story vividly describes the brutal reality of his daily life as a child, but despite the harshness of his condition, the novel is full of hope. It feels like a fond recollection. It was truly a joy to read.
The First Man is a roman a clef that illustrates the amazingly humble childhood of a great philosopher and writer. The novel was unfinished at the time of Camus's death, and, interestingly, it has been published with the author's annotations, footnotes, endnotes and sketches. At one point, Camus mistakenly used his last name instead of the main character's, which speaks to how closely some of the events described in the book resemble the author's life.
And an amazing life it was. Months after Camus, known in the novel as Jacques Cormery, was born, his father died in action in World War I. Thus, the burden of raising Jacques fell on his deaf and blind mother. Jacques's grandmother helped rear the child, however, while the mother worked as a laundress for the neighbors. This made for a rather abject living condition, and the way Camus describes growing up in poverty is eye-opening and heartbreaking.
Fortunately, Jacques was a gifted student, and his teacher helped him get a scholarship to attend secondary school--which enabled him to eventually rise out of his poverty.
Ugh, my review is making The First Man sound like a Ragged Dick story, which it is not because it isn't so much about escaping poverty in terms of wealth, it is about escaping poverty in terms of life. Camus describes his native Algeria as a place where:
whole mobs had been coming for more than a century, had plowed, dug furrows,... until the dusty earth covered them over and the place went back to its wild vegetation; and they procreated, then disappeared. And so it was with their sons. And the sons and grandsons of these found themselves on this land...with no past, without ethics, without guidance...All those generations, all those men come from so many nations, had disappeared without a trace, locked within themselves. An enormous oblivion spread over them.
He goes on to say:
and he who had wanted to escape from the country without name, from the crowd and a family without name...wandering through the night of the years in the land of oblivion, where each one is the first man, where he had to bring himself up without a father, ..., and he had to learn by himself, to grow alone in fortitude, in strength, to find his own morality and truth, at last to be born as a man and to be born again in a harder childbirth, which consists of being born in relation to others.
The First Man explains how Camus became 'the first man' by becoming a self-actualized, moral, social human being. It is a process we all go through, and it works in stages.
To help us through the stages of life, we must rely on the wisdom of others, and in The First Man, Camus describes the illuminating quality of literature, saying that he devoured library books indiscriminately and copiously, "retaining just about nothing, except a strange and powerful emotion, that, over the years, would give birth to and nurture a whole universe of ideas and memories that never yielded to the reality of [his] daily life."
Camus's story vividly describes the brutal reality of his daily life as a child, but despite the harshness of his condition, the novel is full of hope. It feels like a fond recollection. It was truly a joy to read.