Robert Zaretsky

Biography

Robert Zaretsky is professor of history in the Honors College, University of Houston. His most recent books are Albert Camus: Elements of a Life and, with John Scott, The Philosophers’ Quarrel: Rousseau, Hume and the Limits of Human Understanding.

See Work

ESSAYS / Winter 2014

A Grand Tour

By Robert Zaretsky

In Boswell’s visit with Rousseau, we discover a window into our contemporary selves.
ARTICLES

James Boswell and Samuel Johnson: The Original Odd Couple

By Robert Zaretsky

On the morning of August 6, 1763, at the English port of Harwich, a wandering navvy—what Americans would call a dockworker—might have glimpsed a sight passing strange and strangely beautiful. Making their way across the pebble-strewn beach...

CRITICISM

Cité du Cinéma: Is It Good or Bad for French Film?

By Robert Zaretsky

Like an alcoholic who, his own stash of liquor having run dry, rifles madly through a neighbor’s cupboards, Hollywood has of late been rummaging through reels of French films with the notion to remake them.

CRITICISM

Much Ado About Nothing: Review of Why Does the World Exist?

By Robert Zaretsky

Mysteries small and great abound in Jim Holt’s new book—even in restaurants, where he spends an inordinate amount of time for an existential gumshoe. At a Paris bistro he dines alone on a plate of choucroute and a bottle of Saint-Emilion. A...

Winter 2010

Silence Follows: Albert Camus in Algeria

By Robert Zaretsky