Customer Reviews

Between Hell and Reason: Essays from the Resistance Newspaper Combat, 1944-1947

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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."

I liked the essays, but I liked them better in the more fleshed out "Camus at Combat," which in my opinion has better translations for the English reader.