Write | Beijing News reporter Gongzi
On January 4, 1960, the French writer Albert Camus was killed in a car accident, and the bad news spread throughout France, and countless readers expressed their condolences, but Camus's daughter Catherine Camus did not receive the news. In camus's related biography, no author mentions this.
After Camus's death, his widow fell into a terrible mental breakdown, and When Caterina recalled her mother, she said that her mother had repeatedly experienced suicidal tendencies that required electric shock treatment.
For the past 40 years, Caterina has been the acting heir to Camus's work, sorting letters and manuscripts. For her, who was only 15 years old when her father died, it was only in the process of sorting out the letters and diary manuscripts that the image of her father gradually became rich and complete, and she could see another image of him outside of family life.
Caterina Camus.
Beijing News: When Camus died, you were only 15 years old. In your eyes at the time, what kind of person your father was. Did you know at the time that he was a great writer with world influence?
Caterina Camus: Neither my brother nor I knew my father was famous. He is just our father, gentle, harsh and fair.
Beijing News: What caused the failure to attend the funeral at that time?
Caterina: There was no reason, no one told us about my father's death at the time. Let's hope everyone else can take their children to their father's funeral.
Beijing News: You now live in Lourmarin, where your father once lived. Has there been any major changes in this house since that incident? Or is it basically maintained as it is?
Caterina: The house is alive, it will change, but I respect its soul.
Beijing News: At present, Camus's works have been published many times, which one do you think is closest to the real state of his life?
Caterina: Every book Dad shows a certain aspect of his personality.
Beijing News: How will he accompany you? Will he take you to read books or something?
Caterina: We have the right to choose books freely, but we have to read certain books. He would bring us a lot of books to show. My father wouldn't read to us at the time, but for me, those books opened up an infinite space and refuge for me.
Beijing News: Are there any other unpublished works of Camus now —such as unfinished works, manuscripts, diaries and letters?
Caterina: Except for some correspondence, most of the others were published.
A handwritten letter from Caterina Camus to Chinese readers.
Beijing News: Editing the letter between Camus and Maria Casares (Note: Camus's lover) took a long time, what is the biggest difficulty in this editing process for you?
Caterina: The hardest part is definitely copying my father's letters.
Beijing News: Camus has always emphasized in his book that he is a "loner". So what is he like in life, and will he let this loneliness affect the people around him?
Caterina: Before the publication of The Rebel, he wrote in his notes that he was "patiently waiting for a slow-coming catastrophe." He was right. After the book was published, he was very lonely, but because of this, he knew what it felt like to be alone, and he would never let anyone fall into a lonely situation. He radiated love, sympathy, and genuine concern for those around him.
Beijing News: Camus later parted ways with existentialists. How do you understand this. Do you think Camus was part of the existentialist camp – from beginning to end?
Caterina: He's definitely not part of existentialism. He hated abstract concepts and all the proprietary words that ended in "isms."
Beijing News: In later literary research and criticism, what misunderstandings about father Camus existed?
Caterina: It seems to me that all literature creates misunderstandings. Each reader brings his own feelings into the work and into what he has experienced, which I think is normal. I even think it's the key to keeping the work evergreen.
Beijing News: Camus is a person who stands on the side of nothingness and loneliness, but at the same time emphasizes the enthusiasm for facing the reality of nothingness. As he wrote in The Myth of Sisyphus, Sisyphus's work was futile, but to imagine that Sisyphus was happy at heart. How do you understand this state of optimism.
Caterina: I said earlier that every reader has their own view of reading, so I think everyone can understand Sisyphus in their own way. For me, the main thing it wants to express is that life is worth living.
The Myth of Sisyphus, by Albert Camus, translated by Li Yumin, edition: Reader| Jiangsu Phoenix Literary and Art Publishing House, January 2021
Beijing News: During the epidemic, Camus's novel "Plague" was once again taken out and reread by a large number of readers in China. What do you think the novel "Plague" can teach people today?
Caterina: Who is it today? We actually retain a lot of the habits of hunting and gathering, when we face the threat of changes such as technological development. For me, nothing is evil now than social media, which is full of negative emotions and hatred for our own fellow citizens. At the end of The Plague, my father said that the plague virus would never go away, that it would lie dormant in furniture, in a chest of drawers, for a long time, until one day it would reappear, bringing death to a happy city. That's what we're going through right now!
Written | Miyako
Editor| Zhang Ting
Proofreading | dangerous