Justin O'Brien (November 26, 1906 – December 7, 1968) was an American biographer, translator of

André Gide André Paul Guillaume Gide (; 22 November 1869 – 19 February 1951) was a French writer and author whose writings spanned a wide variety of styles and topics. He was awarded the 1947 Nobel Prize in Literature. Gide's career ranged from his begi ...

and

Albert Camus Albert Camus ( ; ; 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French philosopher, author, dramatist, journalist, world federalist, and political activist. He was the recipient of the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44, the s ...

and professor of French at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

Biography

Justin McCortney O'Brien was born on November 26, 1906, in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, to Quin O'Brien and Ellen, née McCortney. He was a biographer of

, and a translator of Gide, Camus and

Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic, considered a leading figure in 20th-century French ph ...

. He was also a reviewer, and a professor of French at

. He was an enthusiast of

Proust Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust ( ; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, literary critic, and essayist who wrote the novel (in French language, French – translated in English as ''Remembrance of Things Pas ...

, Camus and Gide, and was able to transmit his enthusiasm to Americans, contributing to make these and other French authors known in the United States. Among the works of Camus translated by O'Brien are ''

Caligula Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (31 August 12 – 24 January 41), also called Gaius and Caligula (), was Roman emperor from AD 37 until his assassination in 41. He was the son of the Roman general Germanicus and Augustus' granddaughter Ag ...

'', '' The Fall'', as well as ''

The Myth of Sisyphus ''The Myth of Sisyphus'' () is a 1942 Philosophy, philosophical work by Albert Camus. Influenced by philosophers such as Søren Kierkegaard, Arthur Schopenhauer, and Friedrich Nietzsche, Camus introduces his philosophy of the absurdism, absurd. T ...

and other essays'' and '' Exile and the Kingdom''. He was the translator of Gide's journals, translating and editing ''Journals, 1889–1949''. Among his other translations of Gide is ''So Be It Or the Chips Are Down''. In 1953 he published his critical biography on André Gide, ''Portrait of André Gide''. He was awarded the

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

French Literature French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by French people, French citizens; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of Franc ...

1942 The Uppsala Conflict Data Program project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 4.62 million. However, the Correlates of War estimates that the prior year, 1941, was th ...

. He died on December 7, 1968, aged 62.

Selected works

Author

* ''Portrait of André Gide: A Critical Biography'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1953) * ''Les nourritures d'André Gide et les Bucoliques de Virgile'', translated into French by E. van Rysselberghe, (Boulogne-Billancourt: Editions de la Revue Pretexte, 1953). * ''The French literary horizon'' (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1967) * ''Contemporary French Literature: Essays'' (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1971)

Translator

* Gide, André. ''The Journals of André Gide 1889-1949'', four volumes, (New York: Alfred A. Knopf and London: Secker & Warburg, 1947-1951) * Gide, André. ''Madeleine'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1952) * Gide, André. ''Logbook of the Coiners'' (London: Cassell, 1952) * Camus, Albert. ''

'' (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1955) * Camus, Albert. '' The Fall'' (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1957) * Camus, Albert. '' Exile and the Kingdom'' (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1958) * Gide, André. ''So Be It Or the Chips Are Down'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1959) * Camus, Albert. '' The Possessed'' (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1960) * Camus, Albert. '' Resistance, Rebellion, and Death'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1961) * Camus, Albert. ''

: Adapted from the French by Justin O'Brien'' (New York: Samuel French, 1961) * Camus, Albert. '' Notebooks 1942–1951'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1965) * Camus, Albert. ''Create Dangerously'' (London: Penguin, 2020) * Camus, Albert. ''Committed Writings'' (London: Penguin, 2020) * Camus, Albert. '' Reflections on the Guillotine'' (London: Penguin, 2020)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:OBrien, Justin 1906 births 1968 deaths 20th-century American academics 20th-century American translators 20th-century American biographers Columbia University faculty University of Chicago alumni Harvard University alumni