Renaud Camus

Renaud Camus (French: [ʁəno kamy]; born 10 August 1946) is a French writer.

He was born in Chamalières, Puy-de-Dôme, in the Auvergne region of France. He spent some time studying in England and traveling in the United States, particularly New York and California (he taught for a semester in a college in Arkansas). He quickly began to circulate among writers (Louis Aragon, Roland Barthes, Marguerite Duras, etc.) and visual artists (the Warhol circle, the New York School, Gilbert and George, etc.). He is openly gay and an outspoken defender of gay rights, although, as with social issues in general, he keeps his distance from doctrinaire positions. One of his first published works (and the only one (partially) translated in English), with a preface by Barthes, is Tricks (1979; enlarged and revised in 1982 and 1988), a "chronicle" consisting of over-detailed descriptions of homosexual encounters in France and elsewhere. Fragments of other works were published in the 75th issue of Yale French Studies (1988).

Camus is an exceptionally prolific writer. His work could be divided into four categories: straightforward prose (travel writing, traditional-form novels, polemic, and lengthy yearly journals (diary) published from 1989 to the present; "creative" prose: "experimental" novels and a large and ever-growing, largely unpublished web text, Burnt Boats (Vaisseaux brûlés); writings on painting and culture; and personal essays.

He has also formed a political party, "Le Parti de l’In-nocence", continually evolving its platform, a curious blend of traditional leftist/socialist political values and conservative social values. It plays no role in French politics, but Camus seems to take it very seriously, adding position statements to the party’s website on a nearly daily basis.

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