Letters

A bestseller in France, this is the first English translation of Albert Camus and Maria Casares' fascinating, impassioned letters - a record of one of the great love affairs of the twentieth century

You and I met and fell in love passionately, impatiently, dangerously. I regret nothing and I feel that these last days I've lived are enough to justify a life. - Albert Camus to Maria Casares, 1st July 1944

Their affair began in wartime Paris. Maria Casares, a young Spanish actress, was starring in a production of the great writer's play The Misunderstanding, and at an after-party hosted by Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre, they embarked on a brief but passionate relationship. Separated by the end of the Occupation and the return of Camus's wife to Paris, the couple were reunited by chance one day on the boulevard Saint-Germain, and from that day forward - until the fatal car crash that took Camus's life in 1960 - they were inseparable.

Their correspondence, uninterrupted for over a decade, is testimony to the depth of their connection while also offering a vivid portrait of artistic life in post-war Europe. Camus and Casares debate books and politics; describe encounters with Colette, Cocteau, Gide and Picasso; discuss stardom and everyday life, their love of the sea and nature, their doubts and dreams. Above all, they describe a relationship that feels like an impossible gift.

Translated into English for the first time by Sandra Smith and Cory Stockwell, these 865 letters reveal the intimate personal lives of two extraordinary artists, and record one of the great love affairs of the twentieth century.

About the Author

Albert Camus (1913-60) grew up in a working-class neighbourhood in Algiers. He studied philosophy at the University of Algiers, and became a journalist. His most important works include The Outsider, The Myth of Sisyphus, The Plague and The Fall. After the occupation of France by the Germans in 1941, Camus became one of the intellectual leaders of the Resistance movement. He was killed in a road accident, and his last unfinished novel, The First Man, appeared posthumously.

Maria Casares (1922-1996) was a Spanish-born French actress celebrated for her commanding presence on stage and screen. In 1942, she played the lead role on stage in Deirdre of the Sorrows by J. M. Synge and soon after launched her film career in Marcel Carne's cinematic masterpiece Les Enfants du paradis. She went on to star in Robert Bresson's Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne and gave perhaps her most memorable performance, as Death, in Jean Cocteau's Orphee (1950).