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Ronald D. Srigley. Albert Camus' Critique of Modernity. Columbia: U of Missouri P, 2011. 202 pp.
It seems common that at some point in their careers, writers begin to think about their collective works in terms of an overarching direction or evolution. As diverse as the genres or styles they have employed might be, or as varied the themes, geographies, and time periods, a corpus of writings is amassed that can be viewed, questioned, and even understood accordingly- that is to say, as a whole. Whereas, in hindsight, examination of one's own works may lead to a more nuanced appreciation of how the corpus has changed over time, such contemplation can just as soon prompt the author to establish more deliberately the trajectory, scope, and tenor of future endeavors.
For Albert Camus, this reckoning appears to have first come on the heels of the publication of The Plague in 1947. It was then that he set forth in his Notebooks an agenda that, albeit modified in subsequent years, arguably remained the structural and philosophical impetus of the works he was to write during the remainder of his lifetime. The resulting three "stages" or "cycles" are organized around central themes- the absurd, revolt, and love- each coinciding with a Greek myth- The Myth of Sisyphus, The Myth of Prometheus, and The Myth of Nemesis, respectively. While critics have accorded varying degrees of importance to this tripartite project, Ronald D. Srigley argues that the majority of criticism has all too hastily accepted this structure as a blueprint for interpreting Camus' oeuvre; as a result, the very...