Robert Emmet Meagher

Albert Camus is one of my favorite literary figures of all time. I favor authors rooted in the Christian and classical literary traditions, and Camus fits this description well – even though he made no profession of faith after childhood. (Another fascinating and controversial book by Howard Mumma contends that Camus sought baptism just before his sudden death.) To me, Camus’ words capture the human condition very well. This biography, born out of college classes Meagher taught, attempts to distill Camus’ tragically short life into an accessible volume.

A few points stand out about Camus’ interesting life and can orient the reader to understand him. He was born to a life of poverty in Algeria. The two great Algerian thinkers in history – Camus and St. Augustine – resemble each other in their style of thought. After receiving an excellent classical education, Camus became a journalist who anonymously wrote in the French Resistance to Nazi German occupation. He wrote great works of literature at a relatively young age, in his twenties. He wrote both philosophy and fictional stories. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957. He died in his late forties in 1960 due to a car wreck.

Camus’ perspective on life is interesting to me because he is kind of a secular St. Augustine, one of my favorite theologians. Without becoming deliberately theistic, he portrays a similar worldview. Both authors had a classical education. Camus even wrote a thesis on St. Augustine. Camus showed a similar intestinal fortitude in being willing to argue courageously for truth, despite adversity. Both believed in a realistic view of human nature – that it is real, and they used similar metaphors to describe it as “fallen.”

Obviously, literary scholars will find much to celebrate in this book’s analysis of Camus’ writings. Though a fan of the Algerian wordsmith, I am not qualified to give any critique of Meagher’s literary criticism. I wish there were more biography (i.e., personal history) interspersed within Meagher’s analysis. Meagher particularly attempts to tie Camus’ characters to the Christian and classical literary traditions at a deeper level than I had read before.

I hope a general audience will also receive this book with warmth. Like Meagher, I find Camus still very relevant to life and “the human crisis” in 2021. His metaphors, adapted from other traditions, seem to repeat themselves today. Understanding Camus’ broader outlook, shared in this book, is central to understanding these metaphors. While no substitute for a careful reading of Camus’ works, this book provides an accessible commentary that the reading public might digest. Those interested in the Greco-Roman classics or in the Christian tradition might find some words in Camus’ well-attested eloquence to help them communicate the value of these traditions to the wider world.… (meer)