American journals [Hardcover]

Albert Camus (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1987

These are Camus' journals of his visits to North and South America in 1946 and 1949. The journals contain descriptions of the landscape, the people and above all the differences between the drabness of post-war Europe and the flashy wealth of America.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This text consists of two notebooks that the Nobel laureate kept during a short trip to the U.S. in 1946 and during a longer stay in Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina and Chile in 1949periods of stress and hectic public appearances, when he was tired, nervous, ill and vulnerable. If these journals were not by Camus, they might be regarded as "meaningless bits and pieces" (his own description) that do not merit publication. But 27 years after his death, almost anything from his pen possesses value for students of French literature. Since many of these fragments later turned up in his published writings, their major interest stems from the fact that they show how Camus passed from rough notes to a finished work. The introduction was written by the author's longtime editor at Gallimard.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

These are competently translated jottings from two of Camus's trips: to the United States, March-May 1946, and to Latin America, June-August 1949. In the United States he was a sophisticated tourist, provocatively cryptic: "Vassar College. . . . What they do for young people here is worth remembering." In Latin America, where he dragged around with influenza the entire time, he was an investigative tourist determined to witness the gamut of macabre non-European experiences. In the meantime he came across the plot of "The Growing Stone." Of minor interest. Marilyn Gaddis Rose, Comparative Literature Dept., SUNY at Binghamton
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 157 pages
• Publisher: Paragon House; First English translation Edition edition (1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 091372968X
• ISBN-13: 978-0913729687
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,500,541 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Treasure for American Camus-philes, January 2, 2001

By 

"dccustomer" (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: American Journals (Paperback)

Educated Americans share a self-consciousness, a painful awareness that we descendants of mere colonists are probably at best nouveau-riche; in short, that we are not Europeans. Indeed, we struggle to hide our secret gratitude when a European friend--particularly a Frenchman--even shows interest in us. Thus it is a great joy to open these pages and find that one of the greatest products of French letters took the time to set down his thoughts about us and our country. Camus wrote these notes during a lecture tour to this country while he was in his thirties, a time when he was first coming to international attention and when he was deep in preparation of some of his most important literary works. Camus reveals a critical but endearingly tender fascination with our country, with its often crass culture, with its sometimes seemingly naive optimism, and with its lack of awareness of its own inestimable riches. At the same time, serious students of his work will discover the first inklings of insights and ideas that would work their way into his major writings.

Camus kept an extensive literary journal during his life, a very large portion of which (including this small piece) is available in English translation. His journal is deeply insightful and often tender and personal, but written in an elegant and well organized narrative (suggesting his anticipation that his journal would someday be read by the masses). Anyone who loves Camus will be interested in this book, and any American Camus-phile will be enraptured and gratified by it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars more than jottings, June 25, 2003

By 

Gaunilon - See all my reviews

This review is from: American Journals (Paperback)

this book has value beyond furnishing tidbits for Camus scholars, providing his take on North and South America, notably New York City and cities of Brazil, along with Buenos Aires and Santiago. He seems to have met only a few people he liked, and maybe two or three sites impressed him. He reflects on suicide. No it is not a cheerful work, but it is vivid. Hard to imagine this was the tour of a man at his most successful. For Americans, this work if valuable for he describes our homeland; if you have read the major works, this is worth a gander.