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With author Albert Camus’ birthday being November 7, it seemed like a perfect time to reflect on the life (and impact) of this influential writer and philosopher. Camus’ most well-known philosophical contribution was his concept of “the absurd” – a term he used to describe the tension between humans desire for both meaning and the meaningless, indifferent universe they inhabit. He argued that while life has no inherent meaning, people must still find ways to live fully… a feeling that perhaps a few American citizens are feeling this week and need reminding of.

Born in 1913 in Mondovi, Algeria, Camus grew up in a rather modest household. His father died in World War I, leaving his mother alone to raise Albert under tough conditions. Despite these challenges, Camus excelled in school, eventually studying philosophy at the University of Algiers. Camus lived through some of the most intense periods of the 20th century. His early life, his experiences during World War II, and particularly his involvement with the French Resistance and his role as editor of the underground newspaper Combat, shaped his views on justice and human dignity and is almost tangible in some of his work.

In 1942, Camus published The Stranger, a novel that explores the idea mentioned above of “the absurd”—the confliction between our desire for meaning in life and the uncaring world around us. He delved deep into this theme in The Myth of Sisyphus, an essay that challenges us to confront life’s uncertainties with resilience and courage. Camus didn’t stop there… his novels The Plague and The Fall continued to explore human nature and morality, earning him widespread recognition. In 1957, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, becoming one of the youngest recipients of the prestigious award at the age of 44. Unfortunately, he died in a car accident just two short years later.

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Personally, I believe that what makes Camus’ work so powerful is its timeless relevance. His intense focus on existential themes and the human condition resonates even today… some might say particularly today. His work shows a commitment to principles like freedom, justice, and integrity that continues to inspire readers across generations. Camus encourages us to find meaning in life through our actions, our choices, and our connections with others… even when the world seems indifferent. As we mark what would be his 111th birthday, we honor Albert Camus not just for his literary genius, but for his message about what it means to live a meaningful life in a complicated world.

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Both Sylvia Plath and Dylan Thomas are towering figures in the world of 20th century poetry. Each are known for their distinct voices and both carry an emotional intensity to their work that is not always seen in poetry. Though there is no evidence that these poets ever met, Sylvia Plath’s admiration for Thomas’ work is well-documented. His influence seems especially visible in her earliest work, though in the end Plath went on to carve a poetic identity very distinct from Thomas’ notable style. With their shared upcoming birthday on the horizon (both were born on October the 27th, almost 20 years apart), we thought we’d look at how these two poets are connected, and honor their shared visions and experiences.

Dylan Thomas, a Welsh poet known for his rich language and vivid imagery, wrote in a rather romantic style, and often explored themes of life, death and the natural world. His poetry frequently expresses a fairly passionate celebration of life, and admiration of life’s fleeting beauty. That being said, he counters this positivity with a deep awareness of mortality and death. His popular poem Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night is a perfect example of this style. The way he used sound, rhythm and imagery generalizes him as a romantic modernist, since he blends traditional poetic techniques with powerful emotional depth.

Sylvia Plath, an American poet from a very different background from Thomas, came of age in the 1950s and 1960s, and began writing poetry from a young age. She was admittedly profoundly affected by Thomas’ work, and you can see evidence of his (almost) visceral imagery and romantic lyricism echoed in Plath’s early writing – poems like The Colossus, one of her most famous early works. Yet, where Thomas’ work might evoke a life-affirming energy and a focus on beauty, Plath’s work eventually took on a darker, more introspective tone. Plath, struggling with depression and her mental health, often focused her work on the self, on alienation and the eventual peace of death (obviously dissimilar to Thomas’ wish for us to rage against it). Her work diverged from the romanticism of Dylan Thomas in favor of her explorations of psychological trauma, gender and even the grotesque – whereas Thomas’ work focused more on a questioning of the personal and the political. While Thomas provided Plath with a solid foundation of poetry, her work would eventually grow into a voice more singular and ferocious. That being said, they shared poetic interests in language, mortality and the human psyche – no matter how distinct their eventual work is.

While as I stated earlier, these two poets came from such different backgrounds, they shared some similar experiences throughout their lives that perhaps explains their universal connection to their readership around the world. Both lives were marked with personal turmoil and struggles with mental health – most likely why their work focuses so heavily on their mortality. Both poets drew from their own inner conflicts and existential questions to display raw emotion in their writing, and each struggled with pressures of their own artistic expectations. And tragically, both met untimely, young deaths – Thomas from alcoholism at 39 and Plath by suicide at 30. Nevertheless, their work cemented them as literary icons that have stood the test of time.

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Poet, essayist, activist, teacher and Nobel Laureate Czesław Miłosz was born on June 30th, 1911. After not only surviving both World Wars in Eastern Europe, he eventually was exiled to France and later the United States for his outspoken condemnation of totalitarianism. He settled in California – right near our old haunts in Berkeley! On this day in 2004, he died in Krakow, Poland, at the age of 93. We wanted to salute this local (by way of Poland, Lithuania, Russia, and France) legend, Nobel Prize Winner, and powerful writer with a blog in his honor. 

Miłosz’s early life was marked by the dangerous political landscape that was Eastern Europe at the time. His experiences of wartime, fighting, anti-semitism and angst shaped his writing for the rest of his life. He eventually studied law at the University of Vilnius, where he became a key writer for an “underground” group of avant-garde poets known as the Žagary group. His early poetry is often marked by extreme symbolism and even surrealism as he wrote of themes of alienation, disillusionment and searching for meaning in a chaotic world (obviously taken from his own life experiences). In 1933 he published his first collection of poems Poemat o czasie zastygłym (or A Poem of Frozen Time).

The outbreak of World War II changed Miłosz’s life in many ways. After working at several radio stations in Poland, unafraid to denounce Hitler and anti-semitism, Miłosz began his escape from Poland early on in the German invasion. But when he heard that the girl he loved (and would eventually have two children with and marry) had stayed behind to be with her parents, he began his journey back to her – often on foot. During the war he worked for the Polish resistance and published underground literature of both his own writing and translations of authors like Shakespeare and T.S. Eliot. Along with his brother he helped several Jews escape occupied Poland. Immediately after the war in 1945 he published his fourth volume of poetry Ocalenie (or Rescue), which centers around his wartime experiences and contains several of his most critically acclaimed works.

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After the war, Miłosz served as a cultural attache for the Polish government in Paris and Washington D.C. But eventually, his disillusionment with an increasingly repressive regime in Poland caused him to realize he was no longer safe in his home country and he defected to France in 1951 and eventually the United States in 1960 – when McCarthyism had finally abated and he was offered a teaching position at the University of California, Berkeley. His writing during his exile is chock full of explorations of moral and spiritual crises in the modern world, and speaks to many to this very day. His book The Captive Mind, published in 1953 when Miłosz was living in France, inspects totalitarian ideologies and the hold they have on intellectuals – drawing from Miłosz’s own experience with the new Polish regime. This work threw Miłosz into the spotlight, as he became a leading voice in the critique of totalitarianism. This work is still one of his most widely read books, and is taught in political science courses to this day. Within months of his teaching at UC Berkeley Miłosz was offered tenure, as he had impressed both students and colleagues alike with his immediate triumph as a professor – a role in which he said he felt destined for and at home in.

In 1980, Miłosz was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. His work was praised for its “uncompromising clear-sightedness” and “passionate pursuit of truth” by the Nobel Committee, and as his work had been banned in Poland for a long time due to his condemnations of the regimes he found himself under, his win reintroduced him to the Polish people and he became a national treasure on multiple continents. Miłosz’s lasting influence is not only about his life experiences, but the fact that he used his unique understanding of humanity and morality, and added the complexities of history, religion and philosophy to describe the human condition. His work is truly one “of the people”.

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In Honor of July 4th (and to casually focus our attention on the U.S.’s intriguing political past rather than its more frightening present), we thought it would be interesting to look at what are arguably the most important documents that have been put forth by the leaders of our nation over its history! And while we were planning on choosing four documents (for the 4th of July and all), we couldn’t limit one of our top five. Enjoy!

1. The Declaration of Independence, which was primarily authored by Thomas Jefferson and adopted on July 4th, 1776, was the official announcement of the American colonies’ decision to separate from Britain. The document details their grievances against Britain and King George III, and stated their right to self-govern with citing belief in their individual liberty. Quite obviously this document played the most crucial role in the birth of the United States and therefore is number one on our list!

2. A few short years later in 1788, The Constitution of the United States was ratified. While the Declaration could be considered the letter “heard round the world”, the Constitution established the framework of our Federal government – dividing the law into the executive, legislative and judicial branches that we still have today. Some of the most influential creators of the Constitution were James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, and its opening line of “We the People” gave an entire new nation a voice. The fact that the Constitution has the ability to be amended is how we have added further rights over the last two hundred and thirty six years.

3. The Bill of Rights was authored mainly by James Madison (future president of the United States), and though it is associated with the Constitution as it is the first ten amendments made, it is its own document. Ratified in 1791, these amendments primarily address concerns over the original Constitution’s lack of specific guarantees of individual liberties. American citizens are all very familiar with these amendments… the rights of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, the right to bear arms, and the right to be protected against unreasonable searches and seizures, etc., are just a few examples that safeguard the individual rights of the American people.

4. Skipping ahead several decades, we reach the Emancipation Proclamation. Issued by President Abraham Lincoln on New Years Day in 1863, the Proclamation declared the freedom of all enslaved people in the Confederate-held territories of the United States. This assurance of freedom transformed the Civil War, shifting its focus to the abolishment of slavery, as a fight for freedom, rather than a fight to “save the Union”. It paved the way for the Thirteenth Amendment (1864), which formally abolished slavery in the United States. 

5. Last but certainly not least we reach the Civil Rights Act of 1964, signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson, and marking a significant victory for the Civil Rights Movement. This legislation was the result of many years of activism and struggle by leaders and organizations like Martin Luther King Jr. and the NAACP. The Act outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. It ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination, among other incredibly important motions to equalize all the people of the United States.

Together, these five documents have profoundly shaped the United States throughout its (relatively) short history, and in our opinion all reflect the nation and its peoples ongoing aspirations of freedom, equality and justice. Happy Fourth of July, bibliophiles!

Honorable Mentions include:

The Federalist Papers (1788)

The Gettysburg Address (1863)

The Social Security Act (1935)