Σάββατο 11 Αυγούστου 2012

Albert Camus by corfu bluesman





Albert Camus Centenary, November 2013
Reading Le Monde in La Rochelle, I was reminded that next year is the centenary of  the birth of Albert Camus (on 7 November 2013, to be precise; born Dréan/Mondovi in French Algeria).

It seems that the appointment of the commissioner of the centenary exhibition has proved 
controversial, with some suggestions of state interference. More on this.

Marseille, European Capital of Culture, 2013:

"One special figure will be watching over Marseille, European Capital of Culture: the writer Albert Camus, the centenary of whose birth will be celebrated in 2013. An exhibition entitled Camus and the Mediterraneanwill be devoted to the humanist values he espoused, a conference will discuss Camus and the Pensée de Midi and an original opera based on one of his plays, probably Les Justes (The Just), will be performed for the first time".

Under the tutelage of Albert Camus (pdf)

An illustrated edition of "The Outsider".
From Amazon (France)

Last night I dreamt of Tipasa.

"Je comprends ici ce qu'on appelle gloire: le droit d'aimer sans mesure".

 The ideal destination in 2013, perhaps in the Spring- or even in November/December?

"Au milieu de l'hiver, j'apprenais enfin qu'il y avait en moi un été invincible".

What wonderful, lyrical prose:
"Et sous la lumière glorieuse de décembre, comme il arrive une ou deux fois seulement dans les vies qui, après cela, peuvent s’estimer comblées, je retrouvai exactement ce que j’étais venu chercher et qui, malgré le temps et le monde, m’était offert, à moi seul vraiment, dans cette nature déserte…

Il y a ainsi une volonté de vivre sans rien refuser de la vie qui est la virtu que j’honore le plus en ce monde."

There are times when I still feel like that in Greece.

From Camus' Poem on the Mediterranean (written aged 20, in 1933):





More about Tipasa

Tipasa for Albert Camus was somewhat equivalent to 
St. Arsenius' Shrine, near Kalami, Corfu, for Lawrence Durrell (centenary of birth, 2012; born Jallandhar, British India, February 27, 1912).

More on St Arsenius' Shrine.

Places of predeliction for two outsiders (French Algeria, British India).