Luxury Solitude
"Solitude, a luxury of the rich."
― Albert Camus, Notebooks: 1935 - 1942, p. 66
I was immediately struck with imagery and feelings when I read this quote. There's no context for it, no story or further musings from Camus. Just the one sentence in isolation in his notebooks from 1937. I think we all (unless maybe you're rich) know that feeling though, that the rich have the luxury of solitude. The quote brings to mind crowded buses (a rich friend of mine once called the bus the "loser cruiser") and rail-cars full of working class people and the rich in their luxury cars and S.U.V.'s driving alone or being driven, and apartments teeming with roommates and families for those who can't afford to live in large, mostly empty houses far away from the rest of the world and its inhabitants. Busy vacations to crowded shores versus private beaches in far off places. Don't believe it? Just look at literally any Instagram "travel influencer."
The relation of this quote to Absurdism is less apparent, other than the fact that Camus said it, however. When I decided to use this quote, I wasn't sure that I could even tie it in, and maybe I can't. I do think it connects in a few potential ways. First, that although throughout his writings Camus discusses loneliness, despair and themes of being alone, he chose to point out this class difference and use a different word here. Solitude is separate in a way, from the other "allein-sein" states. Anyone can become an Absurd Hero, live an Absurd life and find happiness in that rebellion, but that won't get you solitude. Money can buy one but maybe not the other? There's a subreddit /r/solitude that's mostly about secluded living. I don't think that's the same.
Secondly, the quote above might have a sense of longing in it. Having shared rooms, apartments, houses, public transportation, and other humans-as-volume problems myself, I've felt that sense of longing for solitude, to be away from everyone on your own terms, to have time to think with only the distractions you want, a necessity for an Absurdist. We try and create these spaces in our urban environments, and on weekends, and love to share our moments alone by taking pictures and talking about them after, but that's not what I'm thinking of here. I'm talking about true solitude chosen and exercised on your own terms, with the luxury of being able to not be at the mercy or need to talk about it, change it, or feel one of the above states unless wanted.
Finally, there is the fact that this was written in September 1937 when he was in his mid-twenties, a time after his graduation from the University of Algiers and shortly after joining the Algerian Communist Party (PCA). While in the PCA he was involved in the Worker's Theater and no doubt at least had some thoughts and contact with the life of the commune and the lack of solitude that comes with it. Camus was later pushed out or expelled from PCA for not agreeing with the party line, and shortly after began his work in the newspaper business, which would come to benefit us all. Absurdism is nothing if not a process, and part of that process is self-reflection on one's position and the position of others in life the universe and everything, thanks for the fish. Thinking about solitude and loneliness and how class differences impact ourselves and out outlooks on life and the ability, willingness, or appetite for such thoughts is important for becoming an Absurdist, even if when you get there you're basking in a type of solitude of your own making.
-DA
