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

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)

References

1. "Justin O'Brien papers, 1925-1968". Columbia University Libraries. Archived from the original on January 7, 2022. Retrieved January 7, 2022.
2. 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.
3. "Justin O'Brien". John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Retrieved January 8, 2022.
4. "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.
5. "Et A1". The New York Times. August 29, 1971. Archived from the original on January 8, 2022. Retrieved January 8, 2022.
6. 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.
7. Encyclopedia of Literary Translation Into English: A-L. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. 2000. p. 224. ISBN 9781884964367. Retrieved January 8, 2022.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. Gide, André; Ivry, Benjamin (2003). Judge Not. University of Illinois Press. p. ix. ISBN 9780252028441. Retrieved January 8, 2022.
11. Kirwan, James (1999). Beauty. Manchester University Press. ISBN 9780719055720. Retrieved January 7, 2022.
12. 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.
13. Journals: 1889-1913. University of Illinois Press. 2000. p. Back Cover. ISBN 9780252069291. Retrieved January 8, 2022.
14. Literary and Library Prizes - Volume 3. R. R. Bowker Company. 1946. p. 21. Retrieved January 8, 2022.
15. "Justin O'Brien (1906-1968)". Bibliothèque nationale de France. Retrieved January 8, 2022.
16. "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.