Peeling back the myths obscuring france’s all-time most popular author
Albert Camus is broadly regarded as a philosopher of our time: a freedom fighter and a pioneering anti-colonialist. Oliver Gloag rejects the simplicity of this persistent image. A careful reading of Camus’s three major novels – The Stranger, The Plague, and The First Man – reveals a deep-seated attachment to colonialism and the colonial way of life. Forget Camus argues that its subject’s contradictions are central to understanding both his work and the meaning behind his enduring popularity. The legacy of the most widely read Frenchman in the world has been co-opted to present a flattering and false version of colonial history and is an obstacle to France coming to terms with its neocolonial present.
Forget Camus is a book about colonial history and a nation’s literature that lays bare the ideological contradictions of French society past and present.
About the Author
Oliver Gloag is a writer affiliated with Duke’s Institute for Critical Theory. He was born in New York and grew up in France. He has a JD from Tulane University and a Ph.D in romance studies from Duke. His focus is on colonial representations in French literature. He lives in Brooklyn.
What People Are Saying
"Olivier Gloag opens, in his book, a necessary debate on the intellectual heritage of Albert Camus." Le Monde
"Devotees of Camus will not change their minds, but many readers will learn from this debunking perspective, and the paradox of the title is quite memorable. We are to begin to forget Camus by paying close attention to who he is." Michael Wood, author of Marcel Proust
"An extremely readable and clearly argued critical reassessment of Camus’s work and a devastating refutation of his canonization. The Camus myth, which covers the entire political spectrum, is almost universally accepted. Its devotees emphasize either the “anarchic” or the “liberal” dimensions of this iconic figure. Gloag destroys this myth. Using letters, articles, interviews, novels, and essays, Gloag shows that Camus was always a defender of the established order." Enzo Traverso, author of Revolution
