A writer's topography: space and place in the life and works of Albert Camus

Description

A Writer s Topographyexamines French-Algerian Nobel Prize laureate Albert Camus s intimate yet often unsettled relationship with natural and human landscapes. Much like the Greek hero Sisyphus about whom he wrote his famous philosophical essay, Camus sustained a deep awareness of and appreciation for what he termedle visage de ce mondethe face of this earth. This wide-ranging collection of essays by Camus scholars from around the world demonstrates to what extent topography is omnipresent in Camus s life and works. Configurations and contemplations of landscape figure prominently in his fictional works on both a literal and figurative level from the earliest writings of his youth to his final, unfinished novel,Le Premier Homme. Furthermore, as a core component of the way in which Camus perceived, conceived and expressed the human condition, topography constitutes an over-arching and particularly profound dimension of his personal, public and philosophical thought."