Albert Camus by Eduardo Pola
I had never read Camus, I’m ashamed to say. But no longer – I just read The Plague, and am reading The Stranger. The Plague made me claustrophobic. I began to wonder if the world didn’t begin and end at Oran, the town in which the book is set. If, after the plague had burned out, and the quarantine was lifted, there would even be a world out there. This book easily took me into this town, into the hopes and fears of the people who lived there, and were stuck there. Reading a spectacular piece of writing – an acknowledged classic, could have demoralized me. Sometimes, when you encounter the pinnacle of your art or skill, it can have that effect on you. You could say, “why bother, it’s been done, and so much better than I ever could…”. I heard a story about Sting in a bar in London on a night Jimi Hendrix performed. Halfway through Little Wing, Sting was suddenly filled with despair. With a debilitating certainty that his talent and hard work could never come close to what he was experiencing. I’m glad he didn’t give up. It may have been a rock myth, but still…
After reading The Plague, though I understood that I could never be a Camus, I also understood that I don’t write to be a Camus: I write to be me. And I don’t have the choice not to, if I want to be as much me as possible.
Tags: Camus, Jimi Hendrix, Little Wing, Oran, Sting, The plague
Your resolution to achieve Umi-ness is so existential. Condemned to be who you are. To live in your own private Oran as you make or unmake it. Absurdly stuck in freedom. Why be Cam-umi when you can be Umi, with a cam?
I read your text about Camus and I like it a lot. It happened to me that there are great painters that I admire and I know that my talent (if I have) is so little in comparison to Rembrandt, Ribera, Nerdrum… But I have learned that you have to be yourself and keeping this masters as a motor who moves the spirit towards happiness through art and technique.
Also they keep us closer to the ideal of being a good sensitive human.
Thank you for using my drawing.
Best regards.
Eduardo Pola.
Your drawing is beautiful… and it is you. So don’t live relatively, live as you. I think you already know that, and already do. Thank you for your drawing – and thank you for speaking to me, Eduardo!
~ Peace ~