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The Rebel: An Essay on Man in Revolt
 
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The Rebel: An Essay on Man in Revolt [Paperback]

Albert Camus (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews) |
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Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1992
By one of the most profoundly influential thinkers of our century, The Rebel is a classic essay on revolution. For Albert Camus, the urge to revolt is one of the "essential dimensions" of human nature, manifested in man's timeless Promethean struggle against the conditions of his existence, as well as the popular uprisings against established orders throughout history. And yet, with an eye toward the French Revolution and its regicides and deicides, he shows how inevitably the course of revolution leads to tyranny. As old regimes throughout the world collapse, The Rebel resonates as an ardent, eloquent, and supremely rational voice of conscience for our tumultuous times.

Translated from the French by Anthony Bower.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"The Rebel is a piece of reasoning in the great tradition of French logic....But what is so exhilarating about Camus's essay is that here is the voice of a man of unshakable decency." -- Atlantic

"Camus's book is one of the extremely few that express the contemporary hour...yet profoundly transcend it." -- New Republic

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Vintage (January 1, 1992)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0679733841
  • ISBN-13: 978-0679733843
  • Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.6 x 8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #50,407 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
85 of 90 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I wrote my college entrance essay on this book (Let's not say how long ago, but I was accepted.) and just recently went back to reread it and compare my impressions now to my impressions then, when it was one of my favorite books. I found it still holds up as a fine piece of literature as well as an inspiring example of personal courage. As another reader has pointed out, Camus was ostracized, more or less, by the French literary establishment after the book's publication. I still find the chapter on metaphysical rebellion the best. Camus has a fine understanding of the English Romantic poets and what, for many, their rebellion consisted of: "The Byronic hero, incapable of love, or capable only of an impossible love, suffers endlessly. He is solitary, languid, his condition exhausts him. If he wants to feel alive, it must be in the terrible exaltation of a brief and destructive action. To love someone whom one will never see again is to give a cry of exultation as one perishes in the flames of passion. One lives only in and for the moment, in order to achieve 'the brief and vivid union of a tempestuous heart united to the tempest'(Lermentov)" This is as an acute a dissection of the raison d'etre of the "Byronic hero" as I've read in any English criticism (and believe me, I've read a lot!). The passages on Nietzsche are also exquisite. He gets to the root of many of the great thinker's ideas by quoting the lines that come from the heart: "the most painful, the most heartbreaking question, that of the heart that asks itself: where can I feel at home?"-The passages on Milton are exquisite as well.-The whole book is a well-rounded philosophical enterprise that touches both the heart and the mind. This is not sentimentality, as one reviewer contends (such criticisms usually come from those jaded souls who have had their hearts burnt out in grad school). It is decency...unshakable decency, according to the review by the Atlantic on the back cover of my edition. I recommend this book to anyone interested in the wherefores behind man's many different states of rebellion. It is the best and most readable I know of.
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40 of 40 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I first became interested in Albert Camus after reading a quote from The Rebel online. "I rebel, therefore we exist" was the quote, and I must admit that, after reading the book, there has never been anything truer written. When I was in a bookstore a few months ago I found a copy of The Rebel, which is apparently a rare sight these days, since The Rebel is often ignored. Camus is one of the most famous writers of the 20th century, so why would one of his masterpieces be ignored?

It has been ignored, from what I can gather, because it is a philosophical work in which Camus pulls no punches and examines thoroughly why the excessive crime and violence of our era exist. Camus explains how, in both philosophy and politics, the reigning attitude has been one of nihilism for the past two centuries. This nihilism, being necessarily without an aim, leads to dictatorship and gross amounts of suffering for humans, no matter what principles it claims on the surface. Camus systematically destroys those who have used the philosophies of Hegel, Nietzsche, Marx, surrealism, u.s.w., to justify their murderous plots.

Camus proposes that instead of nihilism and murder, we take to heart the ancient concepts of moderation and responsibility. Camus' destruction of modern governents and his proposals of these ancient ideas seem to have made this book unpopular. In this era of oppression, it is easy to ignore what offends us or makes us think. Camus gives the reader no choice. He must either raise a defiant fist to the giants of power, or he must give way to these minds that are utterly without scruples. I admire Camus deeply because of this--he has summed up the ideas I have been carrying around for years--but some will be deeply hurt by his comments. I leave you with a final thought: everyone is partly to blame for the state of the present and the future. You have the choice to make it either good or bad.
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30 of 32 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
In his novels -- short and to the point -- Camus strove to embody a philosophy. THE REBEL, probably his best, most sustained work, talks about that philosophy at length. He takes something of the same viewpoint as Robert Lindner -- who insisted that the rebellious and protestant in man is what is best in him, not the docile and quiescent -- and explores that viewpoint exhilaratingly and totally. He also does something no modern philosopher or critic has done well, to my mind, which is give de Sade a proper shakedown. (Most intellectuals who have a flirtation with de Sade's writings and pseudo-philosophy -- not all that far removed from Ayn Rand's, come to think of it -- wind up contriving some kind of argument for the man as a martyr of intellectual freedom. Nothing could be further than the truth, and Camus makes a good case for that.) The best thing about the book is its tone -- lofty without being snooty, intellectual without being distant, and passionate without being sentimental. It's not a hard read, and it has the flavor of a conversation with a man who makes you stop and say to yourself, "Yes -- why didn't I think that before, in so many words...?"
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Murder is the problem today
Building on his former essay `The Myth of Sisiphus', where the view of an absurd world culminated in suicide, Albert Camus analyzes here rebellion against the absurd, the... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Luc REYNAERT
Camus - Rebel
Very Camus from start to finish. Not one of his 'easier' reads. If you are looking for something light...this is not it. A deep look into the mind of the late Albert Camus. Read more
Published on January 15, 2009 by S. B. Crace
A work of genuis
I have never read a book by Camus I didn't like, and this series of essays on man's inclination if not inborne need to rebel is one more example how how Camus has cemented himself... Read more
Published on June 28, 2008 by Bobby K. Daugherty
BETTER TO DIE ON ONE'S FEET THAN TO LIVE ON ONE'S KNEES...
Camus' The Rebel has stood the test of time and will continue to educate, inspire and empower those who read his essay. Read more
Published on May 16, 2008 by Michael P. Naughton
The Rebel meets every expectation set out by The Stranger and The Myth...
Camus' The Rebel is yet another brilliant outcry of the human conscience, the urge to revolt and man's timeless struggle against the conditions of his existence. Read more
Published on November 5, 2006 by C. thakkar
An inquiry into the ethics of rebellion
This book followed his 'The Myth of Sisyphus'. Camus explains in the beginning that while his previous work was about the question of suicide, this one is about the other aspect of... Read more
Published on July 7, 2005 by Vinay Varma
The Logic of Rebellion
Without straying into the dogamtism or the sentinmental romantic mindset that Camus warns of, this book had a profound affect on me as it helped me reconcile my 'reasoned'... Read more
Published on December 18, 2003 by Ben
The Unsung Work of Camus
This is largely the explanation behind all of Camus's works. Everything Camus ever wrote, from "The Myth of Sisyphus" to "The Plague," had some form of... Read more
Published on September 15, 2003 by riotouspink
The Noble Aims of Rebellion
"The Rebel" is a meaty and insightful "essay" with Camus telling his account of rebellion beginning in the mid-1750s and alluding to Greek mythology to answer the question stated... Read more
Published on May 31, 2003 by Randy Herring
the last time
i dont know if my last review came through, so i am just writing this one to see if this comes through it is just a test
Published on February 26, 2003 by karl paethke
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