The essay L’Homme révolté (The Rebel) was published in 1951, when people were afraid of the atomic bomb and the Cold War. Albert Camus regarded the essay as his most important work. His Défense de l’homme révolté (Defence of the Rebel), written later, is not so much a response to the critics of the book but rather the author holding a blunt conversation with himself. The origin of every work, according to Camus, lies in a simple and deep emotion. This does not justify the work but is indispensable in order to understand it. During the 1940s Camus had observed people whose deeds and motives he was unable to understand, no matter how much effort he made. He did not understand how human beings could torture other human beings, and while they were doing so looked unceasingly at their victims. He was prepared for this because he had read about similar acts, and initially he was reassured because he was convinced that it could only be related to exceptional cases, for which the crazed fury of a wild animal in human form was responsible. These crimes became part of everyday life. Far from arising and burning in a criminal soul, only to be soon extinguished again, the crimes persisted because apparently they could be justified with rational reasons. Ultimately they became widespread throughout the world, were victorious and ruled.
Wolf Lepenies
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