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3.84 AVERAGE
3.84 AVERAGE
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
As the story goes, Albert Camus who had recently won the Nobel at age 46 tragically died in a car crash, and this unfinished manuscript was found in the wreck. The First Man progresses like an ethereal dreamlike traverse along past memories, and the conclusion of the first part, which appears rather polished for a draft, beautifully treats of man's struggles against oblivion and forgotten-ness. Ironically, the protagonist in an effort to recapture his past by finding out as much as he can about his father who died in action at the battle of the Marne discovers that everyone ultimately must cut his own path anew as if he were the "first man."
The unfinished part, the section which tells of his secondary school years, is more disjointed. It is fairly certain that Camus was still developing these chapters. It is a wonder how Camus planned to build upon his intriguing theme of the first part, but there is hardly room for regret in the reader. We are still here treated to the most personal writings of the whole Camus body of work. The Stranger and The Plague are my clear-cut favorites, but The First Man is an absolute must for any Camus fan.
The unfinished part, the section which tells of his secondary school years, is more disjointed. It is fairly certain that Camus was still developing these chapters. It is a wonder how Camus planned to build upon his intriguing theme of the first part, but there is hardly room for regret in the reader. We are still here treated to the most personal writings of the whole Camus body of work. The Stranger and The Plague are my clear-cut favorites, but The First Man is an absolute must for any Camus fan.
challenging
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
dark
sad
slow-paced
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Last book of this year.
This is the incomplete manuscript of Camus' intended last novel; hence, the rawness of the text is evident. Also, being more of an autobiographical account and an unfinished work, there's hardly any plot. But since this is an autobiographical account, it leaves you in awe of Camus' journey. There's an inspiration laced in those words that defines the person behind the great works, the substance that made him such a unique and profound philosopher.
This is the incomplete manuscript of Camus' intended last novel; hence, the rawness of the text is evident. Also, being more of an autobiographical account and an unfinished work, there's hardly any plot. But since this is an autobiographical account, it leaves you in awe of Camus' journey. There's an inspiration laced in those words that defines the person behind the great works, the substance that made him such a unique and profound philosopher.
To be honest, I was sceptical about my decision to read this unfinished manuscript as my first foray into Camus' work. It seemed inappropriate or disrespectful of the writer's integrity, somehow. I thought it might lead to misinterpretations of what kind of writer he is — his tone, how he constructs his narratives, his approach towards the themes he chooses. But ultimately, this may have been the perfect Camus work to start with. Being undeniably autobiographical in nature, with a heavy emphasis on his childhood spent in the poor neighbourhoods of Algiers in the 1920s, I felt at the end of reading that I understood Camus as a person — in the way that is only possible through the act of reading — and as silly as it sounds I feel more inclined to read his other novels out of a sense of personal loyalty to someone that I cared about and grew fond of while they were still a small child.
Despite the incompleteness (i.e. the initial theme around his non-existent relationship with the father who died when he was only a year old is never really fleshed out, and basically evaporates after the first two or three chapters, and most of the latter half of the book centres around his childhood experiences without any further reference to his adulthood except in the final two pages), I would definitely want to read this again if I ever find the time to reread all my favourite books. In some ways, I wish this had been finished by Camus, if only to get a better sense of him as a fully grown adult, but to read about his childhood and his relationship with his mother and grandmother through such an unfiltered and unguarded lens was a true privilege and one that readers would likely not have had, if he had lived to finish it as he intended.
Despite the incompleteness (i.e. the initial theme around his non-existent relationship with the father who died when he was only a year old is never really fleshed out, and basically evaporates after the first two or three chapters, and most of the latter half of the book centres around his childhood experiences without any further reference to his adulthood except in the final two pages), I would definitely want to read this again if I ever find the time to reread all my favourite books. In some ways, I wish this had been finished by Camus, if only to get a better sense of him as a fully grown adult, but to read about his childhood and his relationship with his mother and grandmother through such an unfiltered and unguarded lens was a true privilege and one that readers would likely not have had, if he had lived to finish it as he intended.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
‘So, for years, Jacques’s existence was divided unequally into two lives between which he was unable to make any connection.’
In 1960, Albert Camus died in a car accident. The handwritten manuscript of this incomplete autobiographical novel was found in the wreckage. It was published, thirty-four years later, by his daughter Catherine. Albert Camus’s wife and friends were afraid to publish it at the time of his death for reasons Catherine Camus explains in her introduction.
‘The First Man’ is the story of Jacques Cormery’s return, at the age of 40, to Algeria, and his reflections on his childhood there. The novel follows Jacques’s life from birth to his years in the lycée in Algiers. The novel explores childhood and school, Jacques’s love for his mother and his search for a father who died during World War I. The novel may be an incomplete draft, in need of editing and further polish but it has its own raw power, with its insights into a happy but difficult and poor childhood. The novel is also about the colonial history of Algeria, and the relationship with France. Poverty and illiteracy have their own impact, on Jacques and his family, and on their interactions with the world.
‘To begin with, poor people’s memory is less nourished than that of the rich; it has fewer landmarks in space because they seldom leave the place where they live, and fewer reference points in time throughout lives that are grey and featureless.’
The lessons Jacques learned from his life included his ultimate disappointment at winning a brawl in the schoolyard: ‘And then he knew that war is no good, because vanquishing a man is as bitter as being vanquished.’ There is also his embarrassment at reading film subtitles aloud to his illiterate mother and grandmother at the cinema, and his joy when a public library opens near the lycée.
Those more familiar with Albert Camus’s writing than I am may see insights into his other works that I, having not yet read them, cannot appreciate. I read this for a reading group discussion and am moved by the power of the writing, and the realisation, by Jacques Cormery, of the power of literacy. There is a sense too that the acquisition of literacy, as a precursor to written memory, becomes part of an individual’s responsibility to society. Albert Camus may have been writing about himself as he collected thoughts and ideas for this novel but I doubt that he was only writing for himself.
‘And he too, perhaps more than she, since he had been born in a land without forefathers and without memory, where the annihilation of those who preceded him was still more final and where old age finds none of the solace in melancholy than it does in civilized lands.’
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
In 1960, Albert Camus died in a car accident. The handwritten manuscript of this incomplete autobiographical novel was found in the wreckage. It was published, thirty-four years later, by his daughter Catherine. Albert Camus’s wife and friends were afraid to publish it at the time of his death for reasons Catherine Camus explains in her introduction.
‘The First Man’ is the story of Jacques Cormery’s return, at the age of 40, to Algeria, and his reflections on his childhood there. The novel follows Jacques’s life from birth to his years in the lycée in Algiers. The novel explores childhood and school, Jacques’s love for his mother and his search for a father who died during World War I. The novel may be an incomplete draft, in need of editing and further polish but it has its own raw power, with its insights into a happy but difficult and poor childhood. The novel is also about the colonial history of Algeria, and the relationship with France. Poverty and illiteracy have their own impact, on Jacques and his family, and on their interactions with the world.
‘To begin with, poor people’s memory is less nourished than that of the rich; it has fewer landmarks in space because they seldom leave the place where they live, and fewer reference points in time throughout lives that are grey and featureless.’
The lessons Jacques learned from his life included his ultimate disappointment at winning a brawl in the schoolyard: ‘And then he knew that war is no good, because vanquishing a man is as bitter as being vanquished.’ There is also his embarrassment at reading film subtitles aloud to his illiterate mother and grandmother at the cinema, and his joy when a public library opens near the lycée.
Those more familiar with Albert Camus’s writing than I am may see insights into his other works that I, having not yet read them, cannot appreciate. I read this for a reading group discussion and am moved by the power of the writing, and the realisation, by Jacques Cormery, of the power of literacy. There is a sense too that the acquisition of literacy, as a precursor to written memory, becomes part of an individual’s responsibility to society. Albert Camus may have been writing about himself as he collected thoughts and ideas for this novel but I doubt that he was only writing for himself.
‘And he too, perhaps more than she, since he had been born in a land without forefathers and without memory, where the annihilation of those who preceded him was still more final and where old age finds none of the solace in melancholy than it does in civilized lands.’
Jennifer Cameron-Smith