In his first novel, A Happy Death, written when he was in his early twenties and retrieved from his private papers following his death in I960, Albert Camus laid the foundation for The Stranger, focusing in both works on an Algerian clerk who kills a man in cold blood. But he also revealed himself to an extent that he never would in his later fiction. For if A Happy Death is the study of a rule-bound being shattering the fetters of his existence, it is also a remarkably candid portrait of its author as a young man. As the novel follows the protagonist, Patrice Mersault, to his victim’s house — and then, fleeing, in a journey that takes him through stages of exile, hedonism, privation, and death -it gives us a glimpse into the imagination of one of the great writers of the twentieth century. For here is the young Camus himself, in love with the sea and sun, enraptured by women yet disdainful of romantic love, and already formulating the philosophy of action and moral responsibility that would make him central to the thought of our time.

Paris is firing all its ammunition into the August night. Against a vast backdrop of water and stone, on both sides of a river awash with history, freedom’s barricades are once again being erected. Once again justice must be redeemed with men’s blood.

Albert Camus (1913-1960) wrote these words in August 1944, as Paris was being liberated from German occupation. Although best known for his novels including The Stranger and The Plague, it was his vivid descriptions of the horrors of the occupation and
his passionate defense of freedom that in fact launched his public fame.

Now, for the first time in English, Camus at ‘Combat’ presents all of Camus’ World War II resistance and early postwar writings published in Combat, the resistance newspaper where he served as editor-in-chief and editorial writer between 1944 and 1947.

These 165 articles and editorials show how Camus’ thinking evolved from support of a revolutionary transformation of postwar society to a wariness of the radical left alongside his longstanding strident opposition to the reactionary right. These are poignant depictions
of issues ranging from the liberation, deportation, justice for collaborators, the return of POWs, and food and housing shortages, to the postwar role of international institutions, colonial injustices, and the situation of a free press in democracies. The ideas that shaped
the vision of this Nobel Prize-winning novelist and essayist are on abundant display.

More than fifty years after the publication of these writings, they have lost none of their force. They still speak to us about freedom, justice, truth, and democracy.

The Nobel Prize winner’s most influential and enduring political writings

Albert Camus (1913-1960) is unsurpassed among writers for a body of work that animates the wonder and
absurdity of existence. Committed Writings brings together, for the first time, thematically linked essays from across
Camus’s writing career that reflect the scope of his political thought. This pivotal collection embodies Camus’s radical
and unwavering commitment to upholding human rights, resisting fascism, and creating art in the service of justice.

From a variety of masterfully rendered perspectives, these six stories depict people at painful odds with the world around them. A wife can only surrender to a desert night by betraying her husband. An artist struggles to honor his own aspirations as well as society’s expectations of him. A missionary brutally converted to the worship of a tribal fetish is left with but an echo of his identity. Whether set in North Africa, Paris, or Brazil, the stories in Exile and the Kingdom are probing portraits of spiritual exile, and man’s perpetual search for an inner kingdom in which to be reborn. They display Camus at the height of his powers.

The Nobel Prize winner’s most influential and enduring personal writings, newly edited and introduced by acclaimed writer and Camus scholar Alice Kaplan

ALBERT CAMUS (1913-1960) is unsurpassed among writers for a body of work that animates the wonder
and absurdity of existence. Personal Writings brings together, for the first time, thematically linked essays from across
Camus’s writing career that reflect the scope and depth of his interior life. Grappling with an indifferent mother
and an impoverished childhood in Algeria, an ever-present sense of exile, and an ongoing search for equilibrium,
Camus’s personal essays shed new light on the emotional and experiential foundations of his philosophical thought
and humanize his most celebrated works.

The Nobel Prize winner’s most influential and enduring lectures and speeches, newly translated by Quintin Hoare, in what is the first English-language publication of this complete collection.

Albert Camus (1913-1960) is unsurpassed among writers for a body of work that animates the wonder and absurdity of existence. Speaking Out: Lectures and Speeches, 1937-1958 brings together, for the first time, thirty-four public
statements from across Camus’s career that reveal his radical commitment to justice around the world and his role as a public intellectual.

From his 1946 lecture at Columbia University about humanity’s moral decline to his 1951 BBC broadcast commenting on Britain’s general election; and from his strident appeal during the Algerian conflict for a civilian truce between Algeria and
France to his speeches on Dostoevsky and Don Quixote, this essential collection reflects the scope of Camus’s political and cultural influence.

Elegantly styled, Camus’ profoundly disturbing novel of a Parisian lawyer’s confessions is a searing study of modern amorality. Born in Algeria in 1913, Albert Camus published The Stranger– now one of the most widely read novels of this century– in 1942. Celebrated in intellectual circles, Camus was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957.

Camus tells the story of Jacques Cormery, a boy who lived a life much like his own.
Camus summons up the sights, sounds and textures of a childhood circumscribed by
poverty and a father’s death yet redeemed by the austere beauty of Algeria and the boy’s
attachment to his nearly deaf-mute mother. Published thirty-five years after its discovery
amid the wreckage of the car accident that killed Camus, The First Man is the brilliant
consummation of the life and work of one of the 20th century’s greatest novelists.

One of the most influential works of this century, The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays is a crucial exposition of existentialist thought. Influenced by works such as Don Juan and the novels of Kafka, these essays begin with a meditation on suicide; the question of living or not living in a universe devoid of order or meaning. With lyric eloquence, Albert Camus brilliantly posits a way out of despair, reaffirming the value of personal existence, and the possibility of life lived with dignity and authenticity.

In the small coastal city of Oran, Algeria, rats begin rising up from the filth only to die as bloody heaps in the streets. Shortly after, an outbreak of the bubonic plague erupts and envelops the human population. Albert Camus’ The Plague is a brilliant and haunting rendering of human perseverance and futility in the face of a relentless terror born of nature.

In the small coastal city of Oran, Algeria, rats begin rising up from the filth only to die as bloody heaps in the streets. Shortly after, an outbreak of the bubonic plague erupts and envelops the human population. Albert Camus’ The Plague is a brilliant and haunting rendering of human perseverance and futility in the face of a relentless terror born of nature.

By one of the most profoundly influential thinkers of our century, The Rebel is a classic essay on revolution. For Albert Camus, the urge to revolt is one of the “essential dimensions” of human nature, manifested in man’s timeless Promethean struggle against the conditions of his existence, as well as the popular uprisings against established orders throughout history. And yet, with an eye toward the French Revolution and its regicides and deicides, he shows how inevitably the course of revolution leads to tyranny. As old regimes throughout the world collapse, The Rebel resonates as an ardent, eloquent, and supremely rational voice of conscience for our tumultuous times.

With millions of copies sold The Stranger is one of the most widely read novels in the world. It stands as perhaps the greatest existentialist tale ever conceived. When a young Algerian named Meursault kills a man, his subsequent imprisonment and trial are puzzling and absurd. This remarkable translation by Matthew Ward has been considered the definitive English version since its original publication.

With millions of copies sold The Stranger is one of the most widely read novels in the world. It stands as perhaps the greatest existentialist tale ever conceived. When a young Algerian named Meursault kills a man, his subsequent imprisonment and trial are puzzling and absurd. This remarkable translation by Matthew Ward has been considered the definitive English version since its original publication.