Camus - Notebooks 1951-1959
APA: Camus, A. (2008). Notebooks 1951–1959 (R. Bloom, Trans.; Introduction & Afterword). Ivan R. Dee. Link: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL1230587W/Carnets_Tome_III._Mars_1951_%E2%80%93_December_1959?edition=key%3A/books/OL12163150M
Notebook VII March 1951-July 1954
page 9:
No matter what it claims, the century is in search of an aristocracy. But it does not realize that for this it must renounce the goal it so proudly assigns itself: well-being. There is no aristocracy without sacrifice. An aristocrat is, first, one who gives without receiving, one who obligates oneself. The Ancient Regime is dead for having forgotten this.
page 28:
Emerson 1848. “How then did we manage for the progress of mechanization to serve everyone, aside from the worker. He was fatally wounded from this.”
page 47:
The tragedy is not that we are alone, but that we cannot be. At times I would give anything in the world to no longer be connected by anything to this universe of men. But I am a part of the universe, and the most courageous thing to do is to accept it and the tragedy at the same time.
page 51:
Century of serenity. The danger of catastrophe is so widespread at this point that it blends with the mortal future of every condition. This is why to settle oneself with his time today is only to put oneself right with death. This century of the most extreme danger is also one of the highest serenity.
page 52:
Every society, and particularly its literature, aims to shame its members with their extreme views.
page 72:
... I ask only one thing, and I ask it humbly, although I know it is exorbitant: to be read with attention.
page 73, footnote 4:
In “L’Été à Alger” (Summer in Algiers), in Noces (Nuptials), Camus wrote: “In Pandora’s Box, where the evils of humanity teem, the Greeks left out hope as more terrible than all the others.”
page 81-82:
Criticism is to the creator what the merchant is to the producer. Thus, the commercial age sees an asphyxiating multiplication of commentators, intermediaries, between the producer and the public. Thus, it is not that we are lacking creators today, it is that there are too many commentators who drown the exquisite and elusive fish in their muddy waters.
page 85:
... And today’s world is composed for the three-quarters that are policemen or for the policemen’s admirers.
page 87-88:
What the collaborationist left approves of, passes over in silence or considers inevitable; in no particular order:
- The deportation of tens of thousands of Greek children.
- The physical disposal of the Russian peasant class.
- The millions of people in concentration camps.
- The political abductions.
- The near daily political executions behind the iron curtain.
- Anti-Semitism.
- Stupidity.
- Cruelty.
The list is open. But this is enough for me.
page 88:
There are people whose religion consists of always forgiving offenses, but who never forget them. For me, I don’t have what it takes to forgive the offense, but I always forget it.
page 92:
W, Whitman. “When liberty goes out of a place, it is not the first thing to go. It waits for all the rest to go, it is the very last.”
page 101:
Thermonuclear bomb: to some extent, generalized death coincides with the human condition on this point of view. It suffices then to settle oneself. We rediscover the first, and oldest, of problems. Arriving at infinity, we begin again at zero. 2nd displacement of the problem: the universal curse no longer has God as author, but men. Men have finally become equals with God, but only in his cruelty. We must therefore begin again the revolt of ancient times, but this time against humanity. We demand a new Satan to deny the power of men.
Notebook VIII August 1954-July 1958
page 112:
November 1st. I often read that I am atheistic; I hear people speak of my atheism. Yet these words say nothing to me; for me they have no meaning. I do not believe in God and I am not an atheist.
page 177:
The Revolution is good. But why? One must have an idea of the civilization that one wishes to create. The abolition of property is not an end. It is a means.
page 189:
Buddhism is atheism that became religion. Renaissance originating from nihilism. Unique example, I believe, and priceless to reflect on for us who are wrestling with nihilism.
page 200:
”The thought that occupies me the most is what our communion of ideas consists of, what are the poiints on which we will all be able to meet, regardless of predispositions ...”
Notebook IX July 1958-December 1959
page 241:
Democracy is not the rule of the majority but the protection of the minority.
November 22.
Dinner with Char and St. John Perse. Islands. Afternoon Waldo Frank[^9] in a dreary room. footnote 9. American Writer who dealt with the economic and social realities of his country, whose many works were published in France between 1020 and 1930. In his American Journals, Camus said of Frank: “One of the few superior men whom I have met here.”
page 248:
Paris, June ’59.
I have abandoned the moral point of view. Morals lead to abstraction and to injustice. They are the mother of fanaticism and blindness. Whoever is virtuous must cut off the heads. But what to say of those who profess morality without being able to live up to its high standards. The heads fall and he legislates, unfaithful. Morality cuts in two, separates, wastes away. One must flee morality, accept being judged and not judging, saying yes, creating unity -- and for the time being, suffering agony.