YAŞAMIN ANLAMSIZLIĞI YA DA CAMUS MALRAUX’YU NASIL OKUDU

The correspondence between two major figures of French literature, Albert Camus and André Malraux, was published for the very first time in September 2016. The aforementioned correspondence, which consists of thirty-six letters and cards, starts in 1941, when Camus, a great admirer of Malraux, sends him the manuscripts of The Stranger, The Myth of Sisyphus and Caligula for him to read and assess. His aim is to seek help from the acclaimed writer, who is highly influential in Gallimard Publishing House, to have his work published. Having read the manuscripts, Malraux supports Camus in every possible way during the publishing process. The assessment and the suggestions he made determines the final form of The Stranger as we know it today. The letters, which bear testimony to the process of publishing, enable the reader to establish the remarkable intellectual kinship between these writers, both of whom base their philosophy on the futility of life. They also offer us some insight about how Camus was influenced by the works of Malraux, whom he discovered in his early twenties. This article discusses both the human and the intellectual dimensions of the relation between the two writers within the frame of their correspondence.