The Rebel

Foreword

Foreword With the publication of this book a cloud that has oppressed the European mind for more than a century begins to lift. After an age of anxiety, despair, and nihilism, it seems possible once more to hope—to have confidence again in man and in the future. M. Camus has not delivered us by rhetoric, or by any of the arts of persuasion, but by the clarity of his intelligence. His book is a work of logic. Just as an earlier work of his (Le Mythe de Sisyphe)began with a meditation on living or not living—on the implications of the act of suicide—so this work begins with a meditation on enduring or not enduring—on the implications of the act of rebellion. If we decide to live, it must be because we have decid... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Introduction

The Rebel: An Essay on Man in Revolt For Jean Grenier And openly I pledged my heart to the grave and suffering land, and often in the consecrated night, I promised to love her faithfully until death, unafraid, with her heavy burden of fatality, and never to despise a single one of her enigmas. Thus did I join myself to her with a mortal cord. holderlin: The Death of Empedocles Introduction There are crimes of passion and crimes of logic. The boundary between them is not clearly defined. But the Penal Code makes the convenient distinction of premeditation. We are living in the era of premeditation and the perfect crime. Our criminals are no longer helpless children who could plead love as their excuse.... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Part 1 : The Rebel

Part One: The Rebel What is a rebel? A man who says no, but whose refusal does not imply a renunciation. He is also a man who says yes, from the moment he makes his first gesture of rebellion. A slave who has taken orders all his life suddenly decides that he cannot obey some new command. What does he mean by saying "no"? He means, for example, that "this has been going on too long," "up to this point yes, beyond it no," "you are going too far," or, again, "there is a limit beyond which you shall not go." In other words, his no affirms the existence of a borderline. The same concept is to be found in the rebel's feeling that the other person "is exaggerating," that he is exerting his authority beyond a limit where he begi... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Part 2 : Metaphysical Rebellion

Part Two: Metaphysical Rebellion Metaphysical rebellion is the movement by which man protests against his condition and against the whole of creation. It is metaphysical because it contests the ends of man and of creation. The slave protests against the condition in which he finds himself within his state of slavery; the metaphysical rebel protests against the condition in which he finds himself as a man. The rebel slave affirms that there is something in him that will not tolerate the manner in which his master treats him; the metaphysical rebel declares that he is frustrated by the universe. For both of them, it is not only a question of pure and simple negation. In both cases, in fact, we find a value judgment in the name of... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Part 3 : Historical Rebellion

Part Three: Historical Rebellion Freedom, "that terrible word inscribed on the chariot of the storm,"[18] is the motivating principle of all revolutions. Without it, justice seems inconceivable to the rebel's mind. There comes a time, however, when justice demands the suspension of freedom. Then terror, on a grand or small scale, makes its appearance to consummate the revolution. Every act of rebellion expresses a nostalgia for innocence and an appeal to the essence of being. But one day nostalgia takes up arms and assumes the responsibility of total guilt; in other words, adopts murder and violence. The servile rebellions, the regicide revolutions, and those of the twentieth century have thus, consciously, accepted a burden of... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Part 4 : Rebellion and Art

Part Four: Rebellion and Art Art is the activity that exalts and denies simultaneously. "No artist tolerates reality," says Nietzsche. That is true, but no artist can get along without reality. Artistic creation is a demand for unity and a rejection of the world. But it rejects the world on account of what it lacks and in the name of what it sometimes is. Rebellion can be observed here in its pure state and in its original complexities. Thus art should give us a final perspective on the content of rebellion. The hostility to art shown by all revolutionary reformers must, however, be pointed out. Plato is moderately reasonable. He only calls in question the deceptive function of language and exiles only poets from his rep... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Part 5 : Thought at the Meridian

Part Five: Thought at the Meridian Rebellion and Murder Far from this source of life, however, Europe and the revolution are being shaken to the core by a spectacular convulsion. During the last century, man cast off the fetters of religion. Hardly was he free, however, when he created new and utterly intolerable chains. Virtue dies but is born again, more exacting than ever. It preaches an ear-splitting sermon on charity to all comers and a kind of love for the future which makes a mockery of contemporary humanism. When it has reached this point of stability, it can only wreak havoc. A day arrives when it becomes bitter, immediately adopts police methods, and, for the salvation of mankind, assumes the ignoble aspect of an i... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Notes

[1] Lalande: Vocabulaire philosophique. [2] The community of victims is the same as that which unites victim and executioner. But the executioner does not know this. [3] There is, of course, an act of metaphysical rebellion at the beginning of Christianity, but the resurrection of Christ and the annunciation of the kingdom of heaven interpreted as a promise of eternal life are the answers that render it futile. [4] Sade's great criminals excuse their crimes on the ground that they were born with uncontrollable sexual appetites about which they could do nothing. [5] Sade, mon prochain. [6] Maurice Blanchot: Lautreamont et Sade. [7] A dominant theme in William Blake, for example. [8] French literature sti... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

<< Last Entry in Anarchism The Realization and Suppression of Situationism	Current Entry in Anarchism The Rebel	Next Entry in Anarchism >> The Terror in Russia
All Nearby Items in Anarchism Realization and Suppression of Situationism, The, by Bob Black Really Really Free Market, The, by CrimethInc. Really Though, Not All "Black" People Give a Fuck About "White" Dreads, by Flower Bomb Reason and Religion, by Leo Tolstoy Reason and Romanticism, by Herbert Read Reason I Don’t Like Permaculture, The, by Anonymous Rebel Without A God, by David Graeber "Soviet" Power, by Nestor Makhno "The State Always has a Conspiracy... Have You?", by Anonymous A Word, The, by Anonymous Rebel, The The Case for Anarchism, by Guy Aldred “Anti-Government Ideologues” and Coronavirus, by Iain McKay “The Barricades Must Be Torn Down.” Moscow-Fascism in Spain, by Paul Mattick Social Significance of the Modern Drama, The, by Emma Goldman “Anarchism … is a living force within our life …” Anarchism, Education and Alternative Possibilities, by Abraham P. DeLeon Russian Revolution and the Soviet Government, The, by Peter Kropotkin Words of a Rebel, by Peter Kropotkin War!, by Peter Kropotkin Wage System, The, by Peter Kropotkin Terror in Russia, The, by Peter Kropotkin

The Rebel

By Albert Camus

Entry 7140

Public

Author : Albert Camus

Chapters