Camus: Portrait of a Moralist - Softcover

Stephen, Bronner; Bronner, Stephen Eric

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9780816632848: Camus: Portrait of a Moralist

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Book by Bronner, Stephen Eric

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Arguing that a balanced philosophical and artistic treatment of Albert Camus is lacking, Bronner (political science/comparative literature, Rutgers Univ.) combines biographical facts with analyses of Camus's novels and plays to elucidate Camus's role as a moralist. He succeeds in explaining Camus's unique sense of personal responsibility and his lucidity, tolerance, and honesty. Bronner's discussion of Camus's earlier works like The Stranger and Caligula offer few new insights, but his helpful analyses of the play The Just and the treatise The Rebel clarify Camus's political ethics, whereby murder in most cases cannot be justified. Such a stance distanced Camus from fellow existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre, who insisted on political "engagement" and who continued to justify the excesses of the Soviet Union for many years. Bronner rightfully concludes that Camus created a "positive morality, if not a sense of ethics, capable of providing rules for secular living." This specialized analysis will appeal to comparativists and literary scholars.ARobert T. Ivey, Univ. of Memphis
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