Review

Author(s): F. C. St. Aubyn

Review by: F. C. St. Aubyn
Source: The French Review, Vol. 33, No. 2 (Dec., 1959), pp. 203-205
Published by: American Association of Teachers of French
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/383827
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203

BOOK REVIEWS

in a recent re-edition of I'Enverset I'endroitrecognizes that it is in this work "which

describes the world of his childhood," that one must look for "his single source of
inspiration."
Professor Germaine Brde presents us with a critical study of Camus' works, but
also with a much-needed biographical account of Camus' life. The first six chapters
more especially throw some light on Camus' background, his youth in Algeria, his
love for the physical world and sports, his early interest in the theatre. We learn also
of his early involvement in political and social matters, the effect of tuberculosis on
the sport-minded young author, the war and its effects on Camus. We learn finally
more about Camus' underground activities and his journalistic ventures until the
early 1950's, when the debates over L' Hommer'voltd.coupled with personal reasons
(a new attack of tuberculosis, personal disillusion, and the ever-increasing claims of
the artist in him), led him away from "la littbrature engagde," for which as an artistand Professor Brae righteously insists on this aspect of Camus-he had very little
inclination. Still, it is undeniable that the artist in Camus has not silenced the individual aware of the problems of his times. His collections of essays Actuelles are
sufficient evidences that he has not retired to the ivory tower.
As Germaine Brde points out Camus is not a philosopher in the restricted sense of
the word. There can be little doubt that the heart is far more important in Camus
than the mind, and this explains the undeniable beauty and poignancy of so many of
his pages.
In recent years, Camus has published the Fall and the Exile and the Kingdom, both
the product of a very creative mind and the evidence that Camus is now entering a
new-and probably the last-phase of his intellectual development. These are among
the best in Camus' works, and they fully justify his remark in the 1957 edition of
I'Enverset I'endroit, "at forty, after twenty years of work and publication, I continue
to live with the notion that my work is not begun." Once again the reader is
made aware that Camus' "long love affair with North Africa... will probably never
end," and that it is the very basis of the best in his writings and of the most successful and most far-reaching thoughts to be found in his works.
Michigan State University

GEORGESJ. JOYAUX

JEAN-CLAUDE.
Camus. "La Bibliothbque Ideale," Collection dirig6e par
BRISVILLE,
Robert Mallet. Paris: Gallimard, 1959. Pp. 297. Frs. 850.
CRUICKSHANK, John. Albert Camus and the Literature of Revolt. London-New York:
Oxford University Press, 1959. Pp. 249. 25S/$5.75.
The books on Camus do indeed continue to proliferate. At about the time Germaine Brde's Camus (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1959) was being
published, that of Jean-Claude Brisville was being printed in France. Furthermore,
Miss Brde's "Foreword"is dated June, 1958, while Mr. Cruickshank's "Note" which
opens his book carries the date of the following month of the same year. Because of
the trans-Atlantic time lag the French and British publications seem to have
appeared later than Miss Brde's efforts by more than the facts would indicate. Whenever they were issued, the foreign publications suffer by comparison with Miss Brde's.
M. Brisville's book could very well be entitled A CamusManual. He has assembled
in it not only much information about Camus but also much material by Camus.
More than a hundred pages are devoted to excerpts from the various works. Following a few curious firsthand impressions of "Camus the Man" comes a brief biography
which we have already seen many times. The approximately ninety pages of criticism
reveal nothing new or exciting about Camus's works. The recapitulation of the con-

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204

FRENCH REVIEW

tents of each work in a paragraph or two constitutes a useful reference but nothing
much more. The series of excerpts highlight the evolution of Camus's thought as well
as contrast effectively the numerous facets of his style. The many maxims
and aphorisms cited remind us of something we have long known, that Camus is
eminently quotable. They demonstrate why quotations from his works are so frequently used as epigraphs by younger writers like Michel del Castillo and
how Camus's influence may be more apparent than real. Two dialogues, one with
Pierre Berger and the other with M. Brisville, give us some of Camus's spontaneous
opinions in his own words which are refreshing to read. There are also a few 1959
additions to the many already existing bibliographies. M. Brisville's greatest contributions are the discography or "Phonography," to borrow still another word from the
French, which tells us where we may hear both the voice of Camus himself and his
works as read by professionals, and the collection of some twenty photographs which
constitutes the most important iconography of Camus published to date. M. Brisville ends by quoting a few of the more salient critical opinions, both pro and con,
which serve to heighten our appreciation and moderate our enthusiasm. In short, M.
Brisville's book would make a useful manual or reference for the study of Camus in
the classroom, but is there a better source than the works themselves?
The one shortcoming of Miss Brie's book results from its organization. Twentyfour chapters of a little over ten pages each inevitably mean some repetition. Mr.
Cruickshank, in giving us ten chapters averaging at least twenty pages, has allowed
himself sufficient room to discuss at length all the aspects of a particular subject or
work before going on to the next. On the other hand, Miss Brde's use of much unpublished material allows her to delineate the genesis of Camus's works as no other critic
has done. In addition, she has used all the works, no matter how brief, which are so
necessary to a complete revelation of Camus's philosophical thought as well as his
literary production. Mr. Cruickshank's limitation of his consideration to the major
works means that his discussions, though admirable in their depth, lack appreciation
of the nuance which can only be achieved by an investigation of the lesser works.
In his introduction Mr. Cruickshank elucidates what he calls "the sociology of
French authorship." These few pages should be required reading especially for all
foreigners interested in French literature. They explain the peculiar professional and
even geographical forces which shape the French author, dictate his choice of subject
matter and influence his treatment of it. They could help to eliminate many misconceptions in the mind of the reader who is approaching contemporary French literature
for the first time.
Mr. Cruickshank's main contribution, however, is his powerful analysis of Le
Mythe de Sisyphe and L'HommerHvoltU.Nowhere else are Camus's weaknesses as a
logician and strengths as a moralist so soundly and so profoundly demonstrated. In
his discussion of the famous quarrel with Sartre, Mr. Cruickshank points up the large
"amount of common ground between Sartre and Camus," illuminating Camus's
"existential (as distinct from existentialist) bias" in his approach to experience and
at the same time indicating "several reasons for regarding Camus as very nearly the
opposite of an existentialist in much of his thought." The problem is a subtle and
perplexing one and Mr. Cruickshank has clarified it considerably. One might take
exception to Mr. Cruickshank's designation of La Peste as a "symbolist" rather
than a "symbolic" novel. Such a tag could lead to great confusion. This may be, however, nothing more than still another example of the enormous variances between
those two so different languages, English and American.
In conclusion, while M. Brisville's Camus offers us a handy reference and Mr.

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BOOK REVIEWS

205

Cruickshank gives us the best discussion to date of Camus's two major treatises, Miss
Brie's book remains the best introduction to Camus's thought and creative works. In
the next few years as Camus's writings evolve and develop, other critiques will obviously have to be written. Miss Br6e is well aware of this fact. For the moment, however, her work is without peer.
F. C. ST. AUBYN
University of Delaware
A Diderot Pictorial Encyclopedia of Trades and Industry: Manufacturing and the
TechnicalArts in Plates Selectedfrom "L'Encyclopddie,ou Dictionnaire Raisonn'
des Sciences, des Arts et des Mitiers" of Denis Diderot. Edited with Introduction
and Notes by Charles Coulston Gillispie. New York: Dover Publications, Inc.,
1959. 2 vols. 920 pp. $10.00 per volume or $18.50 for set.
The two hundredth anniversary of the publication of the first volume, in 1750, of
the Encyclopedie has aroused continuing interest in Diderot's monumental undertaking. Two notable exhibits, with distinguished illustrated catalogues, one at the
Bibliothbque Nationale, the other at the New York Cultural Services of the French
Embassy, marked the bicentennial year. Many important books and articles from
scholars in France and abroad, as well as two selections of extracts from the Encyclopedie, one French, the other English, have appeared.
Not since 1782, however, when the last full reprinting of the great work was put
out, in-octavo, by the Socift&s Typographiques of Lausanne and Berne, and the extensive borrowings in Panckoucke's Encyclopedie Mdthodiqueof 1782-1832,has there
been a reissue of the thousands of copper engravings-one of the finest achievements
of the graphic arts of the 18th century-which accompanied Diderot's revolutionary
publication, universally acknowledged to be one of the great books of western civilization.
Two years ago Dover Publications, Inc. undertook to reprint Diderot's plates of
1762-1772,and those of Panckoucke's Suppl6mentof 1777. The first two volumes of a
planned set of five, containing 485 plates, have just appeared. They illustrate the
major trades, such as agriculture, military arts, extractive industries, metal working,
glass making, masonry and carpentry, textiles, paper manufacture and printing,
leather, gold, silver and jewelry, and miscellaneous operations of soap making and
canal structure. As is well known by students of the original ioQk, the engravings
carry the processes right through from the raw materials to the finished product, with
the implements and machines being pictured in such detail that an 18th century engineer following them could construct the plant and its machinery and start into
production.
It is not likely that modern manufacturers will ever use the plates for this purpose,
but libraries, students and teachers will find this new "encyclopedia" a primary reference work on the period just preceding the Industrial Revolution, when pictorial
documentation was first undertaken on a systematic basis. Artists, illustrators, collectors, as well as historians of art, inventions and economic life will welcome this
ambitious reprinting, especially in those localities where the 18th century originals
are not accessible. (Youthful readers will be amused by the plates from "Antiquit~s
judaiques" of the Suppldment,which give a tongue-in-cheek depiction of Noah's Ark,
its construction, gangplank, accommodations for the animals, the returning doves
and the olive branch.)
The plates, some of which seem to have been printed a bit too lightly, were selected
by Professor Gillispie of Princeton. He also contributed an excellent introduction,

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