{"product_id":"a-life-worth-living-albert-camus-and-the-quest-for-meaning-9780674970861","title":"A Life Worth Living: Albert Camus and the Quest for Meaning","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Albert Camus declared that a writer's duty is twofold: \"the refusal to lie about what one knows and the resistance against oppression.\" These twin obsessions help explain something of Camus' remarkable character, which is the overarching subject of this sympathetic and lively book. Through an exploration of themes that preoccupied Camus--absurdity, silence, revolt, fidelity, and moderation--Robert Zaretsky portrays a moralist who refused to be fooled by the nobler names we assign to our actions, and who pushed himself, and those about him, to challenge the status quo. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThough we do not face the same dangers that threatened Europe when Camus wrote \u003ci\u003eThe Myth\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eof Sisyphus\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Stranger\u003c\/i\u003e, we confront other alarms. Herein lies Camus' abiding significance. Reading his work, we become more thoughtful observers of our own lives. For Camus, rebellion is an eternal human condition, a timeless struggle against injustice that makes life worth living. But rebellion is also bounded by self-imposed constraints--it is a noble if impossible ideal. Such a contradiction suggests that if there is no reason for hope, there is also no occasion for despair--a sentiment perhaps better suited for the ancient tragedians than modern political theorists but one whose wisdom abides. Yet we must not venerate suffering, Camus cautions: the world's beauty demands our attention no less than life's train of injustices. That recognition permits him to declare: \"It was the middle of winter, I finally realized that, within me, summer was inextinguishable.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eZaretsky, Robert:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - Robert Zaretsky is a literary biographer and historian of France. He is Professor of Humanities at the Honors College, University of Houston, and the author of many books, including \u003ci\u003eA Life Worth Living: Albert Camus and the Quest for Meaning\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eBoswell's Enlightenment\u003c\/i\u003e. Zaretsky is the history editor for the \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e, a regular columnist for \u003ci\u003eThe Forward, \u003c\/i\u003e and a frequent contributor to the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eForeign Policy\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eChronicle of Higher Education\u003c\/i\u003e.","brand":"Belknap Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50872744509714,"sku":"9780674970861","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_1f6945b2-3687-4665-b8e6-df3f9707673e.jpg?v=1737908054","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/a-life-worth-living-albert-camus-and-the-quest-for-meaning-9780674970861","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}