Justin O'Brien (scholar)
Justin O'Brien (November 26, 1906 – December 7, 1968) was an American biographer, translator of André Gide and Albert Camus and professor of French at Columbia University.[1][2]
Biography
[edit]Justin McCortney O'Brien was born on November 26, 1906, in Chicago, Illinois, to Quin O'Brien and Ellen, née McCortney.[3]
He was a biographer of André Gide, and a translator of Gide, Camus and Sartre. He was also a reviewer, and a professor of French at Columbia University.[4] He was an enthusiast of Proust, 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.[5] Among the works of Camus translated by O'Brien are Caligula,[6] The Fall,[7] as well as The Myth of Sisyphus and other essays[8] and Exile and the Kingdom.[9] He was the translator of Gide's journals,[10] translating and editing Journals, 1889–1949.[11] Among his other translations of Gide is So Be It Or the Chips Are Down.[12] In 1953 he published his critical biography on André Gide, Portrait of André Gide.[13]
He was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship in French Literature in 1942.[14][3] He died on December 7, 1968,[15] aged 62.[16]
Selected works
[edit]Author
[edit]- 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
[edit]- Gide, André. The Journals of André Gide 1889-1949, four volumes, (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1951)
- Gide, André. Madeleine (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1952)
- Gide, André. Logbook of the Coiners (London: Cassell, 1952)
- Camus, Albert. The Myth of Sisyphus (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. Caligula: 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
[edit]- ^ "Justin O'Brien papers, 1925-1968". Columbia University Libraries. Archived from the original on January 7, 2022. Retrieved January 7, 2022.
- ^ Biegler Vandervoort, Edith, ed. (2011). Masculinities in Twentieth- and Twenty-first Century French and Francophone Literature. Cambridge Scholars. p. 25. ISBN 9781443830560. Retrieved January 7, 2022.
- ^ a b "Justin O'Brien". John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Retrieved January 8, 2022.
- ^ "PARIS WITHOUT CAMUS; Author's Tragic Demise In Auto Crash Causes Grief in France". The New York Times. January 10, 1960. Retrieved January 8, 2022.
- ^ "Et A1". The New York Times. August 29, 1971. Archived from the original on January 8, 2022. Retrieved January 8, 2022.
- ^ O'Brien, Justin (February 14, 1960). "CALIGULA' DEFINED; ABOUT 'CALIGULA' Footnotes on the Albert Camus Play Dealing With Rome's Mad Emperor". The New York Times. Retrieved January 8, 2022.
- ^ Encyclopedia of Literary Translation Into English: A-L. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. 2000. p. 224. ISBN 9781884964367. Retrieved January 8, 2022.
- ^ Barrett, William (September 18, 1955). "The Absurd, Endless Struggle; THE MYTH OF SISYPHUS AND OTHER ESSAYS. By Albert Camus. Translated from the French by Justin O'Brien. 212 pp. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. $3.50". The New York Times. Retrieved January 8, 2022.
- ^ Davis, Robert Gorham (9 March 1958). "FAITH FOR AN AGE WITHOUT FAITH; EXILE AND THE KINGDOM. By Albert Camus. Translated from the French by Justin O'Brien. 213 pp. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. $3.50". The New York Times. Retrieved January 8, 2022.
- ^ Gide, André; Ivry, Benjamin (2003). Judge Not. University of Illinois Press. p. ix. ISBN 9780252028441. Retrieved January 8, 2022.
- ^ Kirwan, James (1999). Beauty. Manchester University Press. ISBN 9780719055720. Retrieved January 7, 2022.
- ^ Lucey, Michael (2006). Kosofsky Sedgwick, Eve; Goldberg, Goldberg; Moon, Michael; Barale, Michèle Aina (eds.). Never Say I - Sexuality and the First Person in Colette, Gide, and Proust. Duke University Press. ISBN 9780822388371. Retrieved January 8, 2022.
- ^ Journals: 1889-1913. University of Illinois Press. 2000. p. Back Cover. ISBN 9780252069291. Retrieved January 8, 2022.
- ^ Literary and Library Prizes - Volume 3. R. R. Bowker Company. 1946. p. 21. Retrieved January 8, 2022.
- ^ "Justin O'Brien (1906-1968)". Bibliothèque nationale de France. Retrieved January 8, 2022.
- ^ "Prof. Justin O'Brien, 62, Dies; Authority on French Literature; Translator of Camas, Proast and Gide Held Knopf Chair at Columbia". The New York Times. December 8, 1968. Retrieved January 8, 2022.
