Mediterranean light: Greece, Cyprus and the philhellenism of Albert Camus
“The world in which I am most at ease: Greek myth”. - Albert Camus Summer thoughts gravitate to Cyprus and Greece. For many, travel was impossible this year. But that longing for homeland is often better expressed by an outsider. No-one describes it better than a Frenchman, Albert Camus. Albert Camus (1913 – 1960) was one of the finest writers of the Twentieth Century, winning the 1957 Nobel Prize, aged 44. Born in Algeria, he moved to Paris and joined the French Resistance in the Second World War. He worked on the outlawed newspaper, Combat . He wrote novels, plays and journalism. He enjoyed football, as goalkeeper for Racing Universitaire d'Alger, 1928 - 1930. Mediterranean culture A 1937 lecture defends Mediterranean life, under threat from joyless northern Europeans. He called it 'nationalism of the sun'. “In Mediterranean culture”, says Camus , “people express themselves in harmony with their la...
