Re-editing Camus: Key Methodological Issues

A first collected edition of the principal works of Albert Camus was published in two volumes in Gallimard's Pleiade sereis in the 1960s In 2006-2008 a new and greatly expanded four-volume edition of Camus's CEuvres completes was published in the Pleiade collection The structure and content of this new edition raised many methodological issues In discussing these I will outline first the overall concept of the Pleiade series and the genesis and structure of the new edition of Camus's works before considering in more detail the use of archival sources, manuscripts and typescripts, the framework set by Gallimard's editorial protocol for the critical apparatus, the interaction between different members of the editorial team and the final outcome of their efforts The new chronotopically structured Pleiade edition renders more transparent the symbiotic relationship between the personal, philosophical, fictional, theatrical and political levels on which Camus was working concurrently It also helps today's readers better to understand his continued global resonance