Justin O'Brien (scholar) explained

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

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

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, 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)

Notes and References

1. Web site: Justin O'Brien papers, 1925-1968 . Columbia University Libraries . January 7, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220107234351/http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/archival/collections/ldpd_4079174/ . January 7, 2022.
2. Book: Biegler Vandervoort . Edith . Masculinities in Twentieth- and Twenty-first Century French and Francophone Literature . 2011 . Cambridge Scholars . 9781443830560 . 25 . January 7, 2022.
3. Web site: Justin O'Brien . John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation . January 8, 2022.
4. Web site: PARIS WITHOUT CAMUS; Author's Tragic Demise In Auto Crash Causes Grief in France . The New York Times . January 8, 2022 . January 10, 1960.
5. Web site: Et A1. . The New York Times . January 8, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220108114621/https://www.nytimes.com/1971/08/29/archives/contemporary-french-literature-essays-by-justin-obrien-edited-by.html . January 8, 2022 . August 29, 1971.
6. Web site: O'Brien . Justin . CALIGULA' DEFINED; ABOUT 'CALIGULA' Footnotes on the Albert Camus Play Dealing With Rome's Mad Emperor . The New York Times . January 8, 2022 . February 14, 1960.
7. Book: Encyclopedia of Literary Translation Into English: A-L . 2000 . Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers . 224 . 9781884964367 . January 8, 2022.
8. Web site: Barrett . William . 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 . January 8, 2022 . September 18, 1955.
9. News: Davis . Robert Gorham . 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 . 9 March 1958 . January 8, 2022.
10. Book: Gide . André . Ivry . Benjamin . Judge Not . 2003 . University of Illinois Press . 9780252028441 . ix . January 8, 2022.
11. Book: Kirwan . James . Beauty . 1999 . Manchester University Press . 9780719055720 . January 7, 2022.
12. Book: Lucey . Michael . Kosofsky Sedgwick . Eve . Goldberg . Goldberg . Moon . Michael . Barale . Michèle Aina . Never Say I - Sexuality and the First Person in Colette, Gide, and Proust . 2006 . Duke University Press . 9780822388371 . January 8, 2022.
13. Book: Journals: 1889-1913 . 2000 . University of Illinois Press . 9780252069291 . Back Cover . January 8, 2022.
14. Book: Literary and Library Prizes - Volume 3 . 1946 . R. R. Bowker Company . 21 . January 8, 2022.
15. Web site: Justin O'Brien (1906-1968) . Bibliothèque nationale de France . January 8, 2022.
16. Web site: 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 . January 8, 2022 . December 8, 1968.