Camus and Sartre: The Story of a Friendship and the Quarrel that Ended It

by Ronald Aronson

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"Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre first met in 1943, during the German occupation of France. The two became fast friends. Intellectual as well as political allies, they grew famous overnight after Paris was liberated. As playwrights, novelists, philosophers, journalists, and editors, the two seemed to be everywhere and in command of every medium in postwar France. East-West tensions would put a strain on their friendship, however, as they evolved in opposing directions and began to disagree show more over philosophy, the responsibilities of intellectuals, and what sorts of political changes were necessary or possible." "As Camus then Sartre adopted the mantle of public spokesperson for his side, a historic showdown seemed inevitable. Sartre embraced violence as a path to change and Camus sharply opposed it, leading to a bitter and very public falling out in 1952. They never spoke again, although they continued to attack each other indirectly, until Camus's death in 1960"--Jacket. show less

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two of the biggest names in philosophy and literature following ww2 were camus and sartre. during the war they met and became friends, very different men, camus born and raised in algeria, his family was from French. camus was blue collar, working class background, his mother was a housekeeper, his father was killed in ww 1. sartre was middle class, short, ugly but brillent. camus was tall, handsome and brillent. after the war there was a sense of both hope and despair in french. they hoped to create a more humanist world, but likely saw the world turn into the cold war. the choice was america, it's capitalism or the soviet union and communism. not the world they dreamed of or hoped for. camus saw the evils of the soviet union was show more greater then the promise of socialism, camus did not approve of american capitalism but it was the lesser of the two evils. sartre took the opposite view. what broke up the friendship and turned them into bitter rivials was the role of violence in political movements. sartre said it is necessary, if innocence people are killed that is the price of bringing about jusitice. camus once said that the safety of his mother was more important then justice, violence at some point in bringing about reform was two high of a price. forget me, but in not this same discussion still going on now? is there a right answer? show less

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Ronald Aronson is author or editor of nine books, including Jean-Paul Sartre: Philosophy in the World, After Marxism, and Camus and Sartre: The Story of a Friendship and the Quarrel That Ended It. A Distinguished Professor of the History of Ideas at Wayne State University, he lives in Michigan.

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Genres
Philosophy, Nonfiction, Biography & Memoir, General Nonfiction
DDC/MDS
194Philosophy and PsychologyModern western philosophyPhilosophy of France
LCC
B2430 .S34 .A83Philosophy, Psychology and ReligionPhilosophy (General)By periodModernBy region or country
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