The Rebel - Albert Camus (Book)

The Rebel - Albert Camus

Going by the title and as it came recommended by a great Philosopher friend of mine - I initially thought this is going to be a deep meaning thrilling story of a rebel unable to keep up with the society in todays time and Oh My God! what it really turns out to be is exactly same but not the story of one person but the whole of humanity. A very heavy (read VERY) read indeed and took a great deal of my time in understanding of the book as it mostly talks about the revolution of 19th Century and in damn great details. It was indeed very tough for me to read more then 30 odd pages a day as it had so much to offer and so many unbelievable names and references to throw on the reader that its simply impossible to keep up with the pace. Or may be I am not yet ready and qualified to read and understand this kind of work in its totality even then even if I was able to grasp a mere 10% of what it was offering - it is indeed MIND-BLOWING to say the least. I won't claim I have read a lot of Philosophical stuff (especially the German side of it) but I am glad that last year I had read a little of Nietzsche and it was superb to see how much Camus was in awe with Nietzschean theories. The simply great and out of this world references and theories / beliefs of Marx, Hegel, Lenin, Dostoevsky and Sade to name some of the greatest that I had heard. After finishing this (somehow) I am not too keen to read some on and by Sade - WOW that man had some mind I must say.

This I will definitely call one of the most challenging books of 2017 for sure (Although its too early to declare that but I am sure already) as it took me almost a week to finish. And I must say the kind of way it has blown my mind that I have picked up a love story to refresh my brain. But I must say that I am in love with Camus now and would definitely like to read some of his other works after I read a little of Sade. Fantastic is the way he takes the word "Rebel" and "Revolution" forward and opens it up for lesser mortals like us is simply unbelievable stuff, you just cant not agree with him. Although as I said it was a tough read - at no point of time I was not in agreement with what he was saying but still for some reason we humans just don't follow the points and keep going the other way thats so unfortunate. one perfect line sums it all up in a very nice way that "This rebellion, is the product of a basic contradiction between the human mind's unceasing quest for clarification and the apparently meaningless nature of the world". If you have come this far - I will let you know this little about the Author too that - Albert Camus (French) born on 7 November 1913 was a French philosopher, author, and journalist. His views contributed to the rise of the philosophy known as "absurd-ism". He wrote in his essay The Rebel that his whole life was devoted to opposing the philosophy of nihilism while still delving deeply into individual freedom. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1957. Now that is saying a lot about the guy. Need I say more?