The book is only 50 pages long. Its more a phamlet than a book. The effort here is a little lazy. Wilson himself says, in the book, that he had originally planned to write something larger, but had not bothered since another philosopher was in the process of so doing. Hearing that, I was dissappointed. I wanted him to elaborate his criticisms of Sartre to something of 400 pages.

As any event, the book should not have been called "Anti-Sartre." That title is, very simply, sensationalism. It was written in 81, a year after Sartre's death. A kind of low blow.

Wilson's own points on Sartre are clever. He dismisses Sartre's account of the emotions, consciousness, freedom, and the world at large. At the same time, he respects and admires Sartre.

Buy this book if for no other reason than the originality I promise it has. Not too many books denounce Sartre outright as in this case.

I am sad to see no other reviews of this book on Amazon. This is a well written book full of essays written by Albert Camus for the french resistance paper Combat. Like the title suggests Albert Camus is faced 'Between Hell And Reason' with what he and the world was faced against. Much like Orwell's "Homage To Catalonia" we see the writer in his early age before his written his major works and going off into the abyss of war. We see them mold ideas which mostly are more radical and less complicated which they would use later to write "masterpieces".

The essays start with the liberation of Paris. The topics throughout the book go from self critique of the paper to responses of major figures in the war. My favorite essays were the ones that pointed out how false and fake the press were during the war. Camus however doesn't just criticize other figures and press, he self-critques his own paper Combat. Camus is very honest and isn't just filled with meaningless words. He really means what he says and doesn't say it if it's not true. Mostly when I read political essays and other works of the same nature, I mostly feel alienated and disagree but with "Between Hell And Reason" I could understand and really believe what Camus said. Very few political pieces do that to me.

This edition of "Between Hell And Reason" has a big introduction with translator's notes and footnotes for the essays. Anyone who wants to really study Albert Camus could use a lot from this edition of "Between Hell And Reason."

A veces al caminar por la calle yo también he sentido esa desazón, esa falta de raíces en el mundo y pese a tener padre y madre, hermanos y esposa, siento que no pertenezco a este mundo, que yo también como el personaje de Camus, soy un extranjero en este mundo, que solo estoy de paso y que no importa lo que haga para cambiarlo siempre será así y jamás será de otra forma. En esos momentos en los que tengo un ataque fuerte de abusurdismo, veo lo banal, y a veces es aún mas fuerte que la depresión, pues en las depresiones te preocupas por que la gente no te quiere, en estos momentos eso no te importa ya, nada te importa. Mucha gente lo achaca a la falta de Dios, a la falta de raices, a la falta de amor, sin saber que a veces los excesos de la vida pueden producir ese mismo efecto y quizás hasta mucho peor. Camus nos muestra en su novela a un hombre que no tiene afectos ni pasiones, un hombre que sin querer mata, y sin querer muere y todo alrededor, vida y muerte, esta imbuido del sentido del absurdo.

Luis Méndez

Están ante un libro excelente que relata los primeros años de la vida del escritor en Argel, cuando todavía era un niño (y pobre, además). Si bien es autobiográfico, contiene reflexiones altamente relacionadas con la filosofía existencialista - y deliciosa, por qué no - de Albert Camus. No está terminado, contiene "notas" al final como la conocida obra de Marcel Porust.. Esto se debe, creo, a que su publicación es póstuma pues Camus murió antes de terminarla. Léanla, y no se pierdan CALÍGULA, EL MITO DE SÍSIFO, EL EXTRANJERO y LA PESTE, del mismo autor. Camus es una aventura introspectiva que habla de vida, amor, libertad y muerte de una manera simplemente exquisita.

Camus sets forth his views on how peace should be universal but how it is unlikely to occur in the near future due to rising and conflicting world powers. This is more of a position paper than a book, but is rather deep.

There's nothing quite like Albert Camus' early writings, "Noces et L'ete" and "L'envers et l'endroit". His poetic essays are so harmonious in style, so rich in imagery, so unique in their perspective, that the reader feels himself a vital part of the world portrayed by the author. Noces et L'ete are all about the stripping of the superfluous weight of civilization and getting in tune with ones primal, inner self. The book takes place in wild, pristine Algeria, where the people are as bare as the climate. Camus worships the sun, the desert, the pervading silence. In each essay he explores a different aspect of life, of his manhood, of his relations to nature and of the society which surrounds him. His writings are all stream-of-consciousness, weaving together thoughts, feelings, experiences and impressions. Perhaps they may lack the refinement of his maturer work, such as The Outsider and The Plague., but they are nonetheless coherent and true to life.

To enjoy the flavor of life, take big bites; one does when imbibing Camus; The Stranger, Plague, Fall, and Rebel; But it is in Notebooks one truly feels the essence of the foundation of his ideas; the salt of the pork; bites, and bits; sparks; as it were, the like. Each entry, taken as an individual idea, observation, note, in and of themselves often leaves one breathless with the depth and scope of concise observation of life's truth's. An absolute phenomenal encounter with the great man himself; one achieves both greater appreciation and immense understanding of the ideas and direct thoughts of Camus. Every page is revealing. This is not a book to devour, it is one to savour, page by page, entry by entry; one to take time with.

(...)
camus' writing has a unique, very personal beauty to it, but in some ways i find it tame and (his essays in particular)boring. for all of his talk about how we can find beauty in everyday life despite it's lack of coherence, intention or purpose, the realization that everyday life and the world of appearance is the only reality still is a very devastating one. his stubborn and stoic insistence to celebrate only the trivial, sensual pleasures of life comes off so well only because of his considerable talent, but when you actually take sensuality of any kind to it's limits in your own life you discover that it is actually quite hollow and deceptive. i'm not trying to make an argument for religious belief or a return to a non existent ethic of transcendence or metaphysical meaning here, but this whole crock about existentialism being essentially creative and rosy is just untenable. camus himself said several times in different interviews that he was "quite obviously not an optimist". he is not nearly as pessimistic as sartre and i firmly believe that his work is infinitely more valuable (not to mention a hell of a lot less useless and gloomy) than sartre's, but at bottom the message is the same and predominantly horrific. there is no ultimate justice in the universe and our lives are ephemeral dreams destroyed forever by death.

The Myth of Sysiphus deals with what Camus calls the most important question a philosopher can ask: "is life worth living?" The possitive answer is to continue living, while the negative is to take one's own life. Camus discusses the relation of the "absurd world" to a person's decision to live. He also describes, in some legnth, what he means by the term "absurd world." Basically, he's talking about the world as having no meaning by itself. Man attempts to give meaning to the patterns, and chaos that he sees. So, the absurd is humankind attempting to relate to, and explain an inexplicable existence.

He says that a person (at least those who are willing to think about their world) will inevitably be faced with a situation in which the world seems to become meaningless. This is what brings up the inevitable question... "is life worth living?" Camus comes up with his own answer to this question.

This isn't as accessable as his fictional pieces ( e.g. The Stranger, or the Plague), however, it does give you excellent insight into the philosophies that run throughout his other Novels. So, if you are already a Camus reader, I would highly suggest reading The Myth of Sysiphus --and then reading his other works again. However, if you haven't been exposed to him yet, I would recomend starting with The Stranger before reading this.

Sartre said this book should be read as you read The Stranger, and I have found that advice to be valuable to my students. My kids are always a bit bewildered about the scene where Mersault kills the Arab, but when they read, "The greatest good is the greatest consciousness," they begin to see why the Stranger was so strange. And when he "awakens" just before dawn of the day he is to die, and the students read, "You must live your life as if you have been condemned to die and sun is beginning to rise," they begin to understand. The title essay for the book argues what I think is the final argument in the Ontological question raised by the Greeks: Since life is absurd, where the meanings should be is a vacuum, and we desperately want meaning when we recognize our necessary death, then we are free to make our own meanings, and it is the making of meaning that is the point of living; that is, the growth of individual consciousness. Camus, then, is the great optimist in a time of great pessimism.

Camus reached fame with his elaborations about the concept of the absurd (the purposeless search of the meaning of existence in a universe void of any)in three works: The Stranger, a novel; Caligula, a teathrical opus; and The Myth of Sisyphus, a recopilation of philosophical essays.
In his second famous novel, The Plague, we find a different Camus. Perhaps, more concerned about moral values and solidarity between human beings, in the face of massive destruction.
The plot of the novel unfolds in the city of Oran, Algeria. The central image has to do with a rat invasion that causes a plague epidemy, with disastrous consecuences. Here we find metaphorically portraited the invasion by the Nazis in 1943 of non occupied France (Camus said that the Nazis came like rats).
Then we find a description of the evolution of the plague, the reaction of the authorities (at first, self denial), the progressive isolation of the town from outside world, and on the onset the "normalization" of the tragedy (people grow accostumed to live with it, and become zombies). After the evolution and the growth of the problem, the inhabitants become completely isolated from the outside, and become prisoners in the inside, due to the drastic measures taken by the authorities. The plague becomes a collective problem that requires recognition and reaction by all. We have here a clear metaphorical reference to the need of a collective reaction to the Vichy government by all the citizens. The call to participate and react becomes a moral issue. Camus then describes with certain detail the soccer stadium where people are forcibly concentrated by the authorities, and this is an allusion to the Nazi concentration camps. More than the persons, the protagonist of this novel is the city.
In the sense that the values of solidarity and participation against a common disaster or enemy are called for, this novel is much more developed, from an ethical standpoint, than The Stranger. IT MAKES POWERFUL READING.

I think I actually prefer this to "The Stranger". That novel was excellent and concisely explained Camus' philosophy, but it lacks the humanity and realistic characterization that is so rich here. All the characters are well defined and believable, but also unique, and they never feel incompletely sketched or generic. Equally importantly, Camus does an excellent job showing the way these different personalities react to their horrible situation, which makes the plague in question seem all the more real.

"The Plague" is also a more uplifting slice of existentialism than "The Stranger". (What? Uplifting existentialism?) Yes, the novel creates a universe indifferent to mankind, but the novel's real stress is on individual responsibility and the necessity of struggling against evil. In a world full of various plagues, Camus encourages us to attempt to be healers. Here, he delivers the theme powerfully in a wonderful novel.

An overwhelming feeling of meaninglessness is the enemy in all of Camus' work. The Plague is a parable about living with this spiritual dilemna which puzzles and threatens existence. But it can be read on a number of levels at the same time. You can read it as symbolic of Nazi occupation of France, or French occupation of Algeria, or any such condition where men feel hopeless in the face of historic events, time, the universe. Camus' characters are often close to surrender or indifference but some basic human need urges them on and makes them continue despite awareness that there is little chance of success. Camus loved the pure earth best of all and his scenes which place a man alone looking at the sea for instance have an instinctual feel that sets him apart from someone like the exclusively cerebral Sartre. It is a book which changes each time you read it. What is happening in the world at the time you are reading it affects your interpretation of what this book is saying. Parables are powerful because they work on you in ways that are not always specific, like myth. They feel real or they don't. This book captures the feeling that existence is an ongoing struggle against(and perhaps this is part of the book power and appeal)an ultimately unnamable and unidentifiable foe.