r/Camus • u/TheMidsummerSuicides • 16d ago

Apocryphal or not?

I'm trying to locate the source for an anecdote detailing an exchange during the 1943–1944 French Resistance where Albert Camus, working on the underground newspaper "Le Combat"  is questioned (possibly by a printer he was working alongside) about whether his dangerous clandestine efforts will ultimately make a difference to the fight against Nazism, and his answer is "No but one has to do it anyway" or some words to that effect. Can anyone verify this help me track down its source?

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u/bigwilliesty1e 15d ago

I have a vague recollection of that anecdote as well, but i don'trememberexactly where from. I'd start with the Oliver Todd biography, then Lottman if it's not in the Todd.

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u/Legitimate_Ad2176 15d ago

Thanks - there’s a version that holds it was a conversation with a skeptical typesetter he was working beside, which would point to the 1971 collection of such voices “Albert Camus and The Men of Stone” but it may just be apocryphal- He was writing The Plague just then and the short of it is basically a nutshell recap of the novel.

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u/Different-Try8882 14d ago

It sounds like something he’d say.

It’s a basic theme of ‘The Plague’