Albert Camus's early philosophical work - new sources and perspectives

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Christoph Kann; Dr. Oliver Victor
• Subject Area: History of Philosophy
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 514216159

The project intends to revise the history of Albert Camus’s development as a philosopher. Against the background of the generally dominant image of Camus as a modern literary classic as well as his self-concept as a creator of art, its main goal is to make Camus’s philosophical works accessible with a focus on still largely unknown juvenilia. Insofar as Camus’s early philosophical work has already been widely received, this has been done by concentrating on his thesis "Christian Metaphysics and Neoplatonism" (1936) as well as on the central work "The Myth of Sisyphus" (1942). In the German-speaking world little or no attention, however, has been paid to the aforementioned juvenilia, which are indispensable for a more complete, coherent picture of Camus’s thought, especially his cultural philosophy with its leitmotifs of the European and the Mediterranean, his anthropology and his aesthetics. In the context of the project, Camus’s "Écrits de jeunesse", written between 1931/32 and 1934, will be edited, translated into German, commented, and made accessible to scholars with regard to their philosophical significance. The aim of the project is to provide further research with an important textual basis, to provide a foundation for a philological and philosophical exploitation of the writings, and to contribute to a more adequate image of Camus through historical and systematic studies of them.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants