The Rebel  (English, Paperback, Camus Albert)

The Rebel by Albert Camus is a book which examines the historical and metaphysical development of rebellion, which ultimately gives rise to a revolution.

Summary Of The Book

In The Rebel, Camus begins with an analysis of the factors that give birth to rebellion, which eventually leads to a revolution. He states that even though rebellion and revolution are theoretically and fundamentally quite different, their seed lies in the rejection of normal justice. Throughout his essay, Camus maintains that when people become indifferent with the normal course of justice, they seek to rebel.

The Rebel is Camus’s personal account of the horror of the chain of events which took the lives of over a million people over a fifty year period. Camus often referred to the French Revolution in order to lend support to his idea that revolutions usually snub history and renew values.
Throughout the text, Camus highlights how rebellion can also manifest itself into criminal acts, such as when rebels resort to unnecessary murder forgetting in the process the reason behind the rebellion. It becomes clear through this book that Camus rejected communism.

Camus also offers hope to readers in the form of a revolt. He maintains that a revolt is a natural reaction to injustice, which serves as an appropriate ground for bringing forth change, while maintaining freedom for both individuals and groups. Camus also proposed the idea of syndicalism.

The Rebel was originally published in 1951. At that time, it created a lot of disagreements amongst his colleagues such as Jean-Paul Sartre, who were supporters of communism.

About Albert Camus

Albert Camus was a notable author, journalist, and philosopher of French Algerian descent.

He made numerous literary contributions in the form of essays, novels, short stories, and plays. Some of these titles are The Myth Of Sisyphus, The Growing Stone, Resistance, Rebellion And Death, and The Ancient Greek Tragedy.

Albert Camus was a graduate of the University of Algiers. Campus was diagnosed with tuberculosis in the 1930s, and this ended his career as a football goalkeeper. In 1957, he received the Nobel Prize for literature for his work L’Express, which provided insight into the problems of the human conscience. Much of Camus’ literary works gave rise to the philosophy of absurdism. He was married to Francine Faure, who was a mathematician and pianist. Together, they had two children, a boy and a girl. Camus passed away tragically in a car accident in 1960 at the age of 46.