Scan barcode
A review by savaging
The Rebel: An Essay on Man in Revolt by Albert Camus
4.0
The best aspect of Camus' essays and philosophical pieces is his tone. It's those short, assertive sentences They reach right into a gut-grab. Like after all these years and all these books you've finally found someone who knows what he's talking about.
Camus' main premise of this book is that the spirit of rebellion is the core of life, and it is betrayed not only by conservativism, but also often in the firm, cruel strictures and institutions of a revolution. A good argument to make, and an important self-justification for an anti-stalinist leftist like Camus. I was confused and irritated when I began, thinking I was going to be reading about political rebels, and found myself instead in a literary survey of rebel-writers. By the end, I appreciated his approach, even if it does make Camus smack of a lit. professor more than a political actor. What I learned is that Camus believes in literature, and in the possibility of a written idea to mean and to move. A fraught idea for leftists, when literature has often been the privilege of the aristocracy -- but Camus stays a rebel, maybe, by embracing his own contrariness, instead of towing a 'correct' line.
And true to the fundamental point of The Rebel: I found myself slightly tired of this long and exhaustively-argumented book, wishing instead for Camus' more supple essays. You write a full book, even on rebellion, and you're bound to fall into a hardened structure -- while the essays of Camus are his true rebellion, slipping straight to the heart of an idea and quick out the back door.
Camus' main premise of this book is that the spirit of rebellion is the core of life, and it is betrayed not only by conservativism, but also often in the firm, cruel strictures and institutions of a revolution. A good argument to make, and an important self-justification for an anti-stalinist leftist like Camus. I was confused and irritated when I began, thinking I was going to be reading about political rebels, and found myself instead in a literary survey of rebel-writers. By the end, I appreciated his approach, even if it does make Camus smack of a lit. professor more than a political actor. What I learned is that Camus believes in literature, and in the possibility of a written idea to mean and to move. A fraught idea for leftists, when literature has often been the privilege of the aristocracy -- but Camus stays a rebel, maybe, by embracing his own contrariness, instead of towing a 'correct' line.
And true to the fundamental point of The Rebel: I found myself slightly tired of this long and exhaustively-argumented book, wishing instead for Camus' more supple essays. You write a full book, even on rebellion, and you're bound to fall into a hardened structure -- while the essays of Camus are his true rebellion, slipping straight to the heart of an idea and quick out the back door.