By the time Albert Camus received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957 the nuanced position he took on the Algerian revolution had caused a scandal in orthodox progressive circles. Camus kept as quiet as he could because he feared terrorist reprisals against his mother, who was still living in Algiers. At the Nobel ceremony, however, he was harangued by an FLN enthusiast and forced into making a statement. 'I must condemn a terrorism that works blindly in the streets of Algiers and one day might strike at my mother and my family,' he said. 'I believe in justice, but I will defend my mother before justice.' This produced a further explosion. 'I was totally sure,' remarked Hubert Beuve-Méry, the editor of Le Monde, 'that Camus would say some fucking fool thing.' Sartre and Beauvoir's response was very similar - they had long ceased to be on speaking terms with Camus because of his 'reactionary' tendencies.

LRB 16 October 1997 | PDF Download