Camus, Albert

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Not existentialist - depressed!
timeless themes of alienation and social apathy.........
Joe2 The Stanger
Joe2 The Stanger
Freedom is just another word

The Stranger
Albert Camus
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0679720200
Release Date: 1989-03-13

Amazon.com

The Stranger is not merely one of the most widely read novels of the 20th century, but one of the books likely to outlive it. Written in 1946, Camus's compelling and troubling tale of a disaffected, apparently amoral young man has earned a durable popularity (and remains a staple of U.S. high school literature courses) in part because it reveals so vividly the anxieties of its time. Alienation, the fear of anonymity, spiritual doubt--all could have been given a purely modern inflection in the hands of a lesser talent than Camus, who won the Nobel Prize in 1957 and was noted for his existentialist aesthetic. The remarkable trick of The Stranger, however, is that it's not mired in period philosophy.

The plot is simple. A young Algerian, Meursault, afflicted with a sort of aimless inertia, becomes embroiled in the petty intrigues of a local pimp and, somewhat inexplicably, ends up killing a man. Once he's imprisoned and eventually brought to trial, his crime, it becomes apparent, is not so much the arguably defensible murder he has committed as it is his deficient character. The trial's proceedings are absurd, a parsing of incidental trivialities--that Meursault, for instance, seemed unmoved by his own mother's death and then attended a comic movie the evening after her funeral are two ostensibly damning facts--so that the eventual sentence the jury issues is both ridiculous and inevitable.

Meursault remains a cipher nearly to the story's end--dispassionate, clinical, disengaged from his own emotions. "She wanted to know if I loved her," he says of his girlfriend. "I answered the same way I had the last time, that it didn't mean anything but that I probably didn't." There's a latent ominousness in such observations, a sense that devotion is nothing more than self-delusion. It's undoubtedly true that Meursault exhibits an extreme of resignation; however, his confrontation with "the gentle indifference of the world" remains as compelling as it was when Camus first recounted it. --Ben Guterson

Book Description

Through the story of an ordinary man unwittingly drawn into a senseless murder on an Algerian beach, Camus explored what he termed "the nakedness of man faced with the absurd." First published in 1946; now in a new translation by Matthew Ward.

Customer Reviews:

Not existentialist - depressed!.......2007-05-22

I read The Stranger when I was young but didn't really get much out of it. I recently reread it and was struck by the lack of emotion on the part of the protagonist, Muersault. Forget existentialist - this man was depressed. He has all the hallmarks of it - doesn't care about anything, has no joy in his existence. It doesn't so much bother me that he didn't care about his mother's death; she was older, apparently not in good health and they weren't close. But what does bother me is the casual way he deals with the murder he committed. It seems almost beside the point- the man he killed had done nothing to Muersault justifying the murder. More than anything else, his flat attitude reminded me of the murderers in In Cold Blood. There were some serious mental health issues that this man had.

timeless themes of alienation and social apathy................2007-05-07

I will never forget my introduction to Albert Camus' THE STRANGER. As an alienated twelve year old girl, the main character who ends up involved with shady people and their [equally] shady dealings was compelling and evocative to me. Here, our character finds himself pulled into a world of pimps, violence and love affairs where is emotionally detached and absent from any form of intimacy (other than in the physical sense). I can see why THE STRANGER has stood the test of time. It is truly timeless.......

Joe2 The Stanger.......2007-04-17

The Stranger is a book about a man named Muersault who kills a man he does not even really know. In the beginning of the book his mother dies and he goes to the funeral, but he does not seem sad about his mothers death; he does not even cry. After the funeral, he goes out with his girlfriend Marie, to see a movie. Muersault does not seem to care about anything in his life or any one else's for that matter. He just "skates through" and goes on not having a passion or a dream of what he wants to be or what he wants people to remember him by. He does not really like his girlfriend; he merely tolerates her presence in his life. She says that she wants to marry him but he does not care either way. He then finds this friend and lady's man named Raymond who got involved with this girl who he beats because the girl did something bad to him and he gets into trouble. He finally goes to this beach house and he finds the girl's brother of the one that Raymond beat he just shoots him for no real apparent reason. Then Muersault goes on trial for the crime of murder. The people of the jury and the judge were really harsh on him because they were trying him on principle and why he was not crying at his mother's funeral not the actual crime of the murder of the young man. The other details were of no real use to the actual crime at hand; they were extraneous details that were part of his life. He was tried and he was found guilty and he was put to death for the crime.

Joe2 The Stanger.......2007-04-17

Freedom is just another word.......2007-04-13

So said Janis Joplin. She could well have been describing the freedom of this book's protagonist. One can read it as death by apathy, suicide by executioner.

It starts with Meursault tonelessly addressing the facts of his mother's death. Even before that event, Meusrault had become anhedonic, judging the world in terms of its cost to him, not its value. Yes, he had straitened circumstances of a sort, but not dire. For whatever reason (and the irrelevance of that reason is itself striking), the scene opens on a man whose emotional fusebox is a scorched ruin. Whatever had once driven him, had long since burned out. In that state, even moral imperatives become mere habits - the cruise control of a mind that's lost its moral, feeling guidance. Then, possibly for valid reason, he kills a man.

Racial politics of the 1940s could be invoked, or valid self-defense. It seems likely, though, that Meursault shot him, repeatedly, because his deadened mind could think of no reason not to. His thoughts had shrunk into such small orbits that they no longer encompassed any sense of future or any sense of person, even his own.

A bizarre trial follows. The charge is murder, but the prosecution is about emotion. Meursault can not mount even his own defense in this capital case, to convince the jury that he is a feeling being. He is convicted, and awaits his transformation under the guillotine's blade. One last, devoted defender of faith and scourge of reason visits him in his cell. That final voice, entirely in tones and clothes of black and white, tries desperately to strike a spark on Meursault's sodden mind, and fails.

All that's left is all that's left. I guess that's true for anyone, though. If you see more, it's because you see what's in you. Meursault saw what was in himslf, and just didn't care.

Just couldn't care.

//wiredweird

Average customer rating:

One of the best books I've read
Examining a Plague Stoically
How people confront extreme circumstances
Let love in
I loved it, AND I do not expect anyone else to.

The Plague
Albert Camus
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0679720219
Release Date: 1991-05-07

Amazon.com

The Nobel prize-winning Albert Camus, who died in 1960, could not have known how grimly current his existentialist novel of epidemic and death would remain. Set in Algeria, in northern Africa, The Plague is a powerful study of human life and its meaning in the face of a deadly virus that sweeps dispassionately through the city, taking a vast percentage of the population with it.

Book Description

A haunting tale of human resilience in the face of unrelieved horror, Camus' novel about a bubonic plague ravaging the people of a North African coastal town is a classic of twentieth-century literature.

Customer Reviews:

One of the best books I've read.......2007-05-30

I was incredibly taken in by The Plague. The languaga is so ,agnificent that I imagine the original French must be even more so. The way Camus conveys the mindsets of the townfolk serves as a perfect example of the hu,an condition.

Examining a Plague Stoically .......2007-05-27

The Plague is an okay read about survival during a plague. It is low key and non-sensational and even has a passage that says that the author wants to record the events without sensationalism. Unfortunately, this grim, manly stoicism makes the book a little boring.

The book makes you think about how you would react during a time of extreme crisis by reading about how the main character, Rieux, and the citizens react. When normal life comes to a standstill, Rieux and the citizens of Oran are forced to think about what is important in life. They are slow to understand that their lives are changing permanently because of the plague. They find it unbelievable that their daily lives could be interrupted by the pestilence. Fear causes the citizens to seriously reflect on their lives because daily routines and mundane consciousness have been disturbed after the death of Michel from the plague: "And it was then that fear, and with fear serious reflection, began."

They are taken by surprise by the plague and believe that it cannot happen to them: "In this respect our townsfolk were like everybody else, wrapped up in themselves, in other words they were humanists: they disbelieved in pestilences....How should they have given thought to anything like plague, which rules out any future, cancels journeys, silences exchange of views."

The stoppage of normal life is inconceivable to those who have not experienced the plague. It still remains hard for the people to comprehend the plague and its history of horror as the spring comes on: "...cartloads of bodies rumbling through London's ghoul-hearted darkness, nights and days filled always, everywhere, with the eternal cry of human pain. No, all these horrors when not near enough as yet even to ruffle the equanimity of that spring afternoon. The clang of an unseen streetcar came through the window, briskly refuting cruelty and pain."

Rieux himself has trouble comprehending that the plague would become full-blown in a such a town as Oran, which has its share of eccentrics such as Grand: "He realized how absurd it was, but simply could not believe that a pestilence on the great scale could befall a town where people like Grand could be found, obscure functionaries cultivating harmless eccentricies."

I particularly liked Rieux's reaction to Rambert's accusation that he was reacting to the plague and the people affected by it too abstractly. Rieux silently mocks Rambert's idea that he lives in a world of abstractions: "Could that term "abstraction" really apply to the days that he spent in his hospital while the plague was battening on the town, raising its death toll to five hundred victims a week....Still when an abstraction sets to killing you, you've got to get busy with it." Rieux plays on the word "abstraction" when substituting it for "evacuation" of the person who has the plague and has to be forcibly removed from the family who resists. He says that "...of course, he had pity, but what purpose did that serve?" He has to follow the rules of the quarantine during the plague. When children fall ill the mothers wail with "distraught abstraction" every evening as the doctor makes house calls. Rieux feels "bleak indifference" coming on as he handles so many cases like this. Rieux uses that indifference to survive the long hours of dealing with plague victims, remarking that, "To fight abstraction, you must have something of it in your own make up." He finds solace in his lack of emotion. But he does not expect Rambert to understand what he is going through. Rieux actually deals with heart-rending situations, but he must shut himself off from feeling too much pain about them.

How people confront extreme circumstances.......2007-05-05

It isn't trivial that Albert Camus studied philosophy. In this book, the Nobel Laureate uses a "plague" to explore how different people react to the hardships and incomprehensible nature of what is thrust upon them. It takes place in the town of Oran, where one day the rats start dying off, and the people quickly follow. The town is sealed off, and the characters have to deal with the isolation and and the bleakness of their circumstance, among other things. This is an excellent book about humanity, but if you are looking for a horror story or something filled with obvious bestseller suspense, look elsewhere. Camus keeps the reader interested throughout, but the interest is in the character of the people he populates the town with, not necessarily with the disease itself. I'd highly recommend it, but just know what you're getting into.

Let love in.......2007-04-09

In the city of Oran, something very bad is happening. Albert Camus' The Plague is a masterwork of 20th century literature as it examines the devestating effects of a deadly and bloody plague that breaks out all over the city. In the wake of a quarantine, Dr. Rieux and a handful of survivors band together to do what they can. In the long run, the only thing that any of them can really do to overcome the odds, is live. Though there are times when it is drawn out, The Plague manages to deliver an incredibly compelling story that examines human nature in the wake of incredible adversity, and it has never been done better since. The shocking imagery and perspectives presented here only further show Camus' mastery, and the equally shocking poignancy will surprise you even more so. Definitely not for everyone, The Plague is a masterpiece.

I loved it, AND I do not expect anyone else to........2007-04-02

I am always weary of sensationalist reviewers who say stuff like "this is one of top ten books ever", or "everyone must read this"....such platitudes are morally and intellectually presumptuous. This book holds a certain perspective, it is a powerful perspective, but it is not for everyone. Now on to the review

With the thousands of great books on the market, written over the generations, there is really no reason why someone should choose to read this particular book unless they belong to a particular niche. The Existential antecedent of post-modernism life is meaningless non-teleological pain but deal with it niche.

The book catalogs the unremarkable response of a merchant town to a remarkable event presented in an unremarkable way, a plague. The book focus's on the absurdity of the way the citizens act in response, and the absurdity in the way the Plague chooses who will die. Of course these themes are symbolic of Camus' philosophy, and is a good literary introduction to post-modernism and existentialism. But, honestly, as much as I love these schools of thought, unless you sympathize with them or are doing an in depth study of their geneses, there is really no reason to choose this book over another literary classic.

I loved it, and(not but)I do not expect anyone else to.

Average customer rating:

Life's the thing
A treatise on absurdism.
The question of suicide and its ethics
An indifferent, stammering god.
Life is like a comedy: pointless, but enjoyable!

The Myth of Sisyphus: And Other Essays
Albert Camus
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0679733736
Release Date: 1991-05-07

Customer Reviews:

Life's the thing.......2006-10-21

The myth of Sisyphus is a model essay to comfort people in those moods of bleak, existential despair that assail us all from time to time. The moral to emerge from this fable is a simple one - life in the post Nietzsche age, with no god, is absurd, there is no overarching meaning outside life itself, but there is still great nobility in fighting the good fight right to the death.

The best part comes for those readers who stick it out through the final appendix: Camus offers a stunning commentary of Kafka's work - the fate of his tragic protagonists in 'The Trial' and 'The Castle', viewed in light of the universal plight of mankind. Very telling is his addendum which acknowledges that he is not precluding aesthetic critiques of Kafka's work. Great art offers so much, yet resolves nothing. Like life.

A treatise on absurdism........2006-07-22

The Myth of Sisyphus is a treatise on absurdism, and while absurdism is an admittedly interesting topic in its own right, Camus never convincingly demonstrates a connection between the absurd and the impulse to suicide.

The average man could care less about the limits of knowledge, the evasions of nature, and all of the other epistemological concerns that Camus manages to exalt to godlike stature in the concept of the absurd. He posits a sort of ethic in which we are expected to ignore the pointless nature of life, and continue to "play the game", because somehow this is in accordance with his absurd valuations:

"It is essential to die unreconciled and not of one's own free will. Suicide is a repudiation. The absurd man can only drain everything to the bitter end, and deplete himself. The absurd is his extreme tension, which he maintains constantly by solitary effort, for he knows that in that consciousness and in that day-to-day revolt he gives proof of his only truth, which is defiance."

As such, his conclusions are not conclusions as much as an attempt by Camus to impose his values on the reader -- I asked for enlightenment and instead Camus does the intellectual equivalent of taking me to the Church of the Absurd (TM).

The question of suicide and its ethics.......2005-07-07

In his many theoretical books, Albert Camus tries to answer a question that has bothered him: Whether a human life is worth taking?

In this particular book, he tries to answer the question for a special case - that of suicide.

'The Absrud dictates suicide' is one sentence that echoes throughout the book in various forms. Camus believes that it is the absurdity and meaninglessness of our lives that drives us to suicide.

He compares the absurdity to the myth of the greek hero Sisyphus who was condemned to roll a huge rock uphill for eternity. Camus proceeds to uncover the entire existential psychology of The Absurd, but concludes that one's own life is not worth taking.

He then proceed to demonstrate through a collection of anecdotal essays, how human beings can construct meaning from life. His other essays in the book do give a hint about how to find meaning in life, but may not be persuasive enough for someone too much in the dumps.

The logical connection between his analysis and conclusion is weak, but the analysis is brilliant. And for that reason alone, it is really worth reading.

An indifferent, stammering god........2005-01-29

In this book, Albert Camus speaks to us with much understanding and clarity about the unconscious cause and the rational basis of suicide, and the aspects of belief and atheism. I would say that how he justifies, or by which manner he justifies his atheism, is somewhat clearer or more "decent" (forgive the expression) than that of Nietzsche, Sartre or even Freud.

Here he lists down the different responses on the absurdity of existence, citing that of Kierkegaard and Kafka, among others, and thereafter he inserts his obvervations on their "leaping" acquiesence. In the appendix of the book, Camus blasted the "existentials" with eloquence: "They embrace the God that consumes them." After you read the book, and despite of its many cryptic epigrams, you will carry inside you the clarity of the author's honest reasoning.

And the accompanying essays? "Summer in Algiers" is one of the most beautiful writings by any man that I have ever read. Here is the voice of an indifferent, stammering god. "A hopelessly poignant thing," Nabokov would say.

The other essays in this collection are in same manner, lyrical, and are an essential part of the book as a whole.

Life is like a comedy: pointless, but enjoyable!.......2004-10-22

"There is but one truely serious philosophical question and that is suicide." That is the famous first sentence. I think that he should've said there is only one practical question in philosophy and that is suicide; that would have been a fact, rather than a value-judgement. He states his conclusion early, perhaps so no-one gets the wrong idea, which is that recognising the absurdity of life is not a reason to die, but rather a reason to live on freer than before. He condemns the concept of hope as a killer of life, later on, as well as all religious meanings given to life.

I think this book is of most use to those who have recently lost their religion, to those who have lost a loved one and to angst-ridden youths. The central conclusion - that just because life is meaningless does not mean that it is bad - is not something that most people would dispute, but it is rather something that is hard for people to accept emotionally, when you may have had meaning provided for you by religion or by your family beforehand. Camus tries to show quite a diverse way in which life can be affirmed, despite its absurdity; he talks of indulgence in the "Don Juan" section, but then glorifies literature later on. On this point, if you are not familiar with the works of Dostoyevsky, Kafka or the figure of Don Juan, you will not understand the last third of the essay.

Camus makes clear in this book that he is not an existentialist. He calls this attitude "philosophical suicide", as it occurs when reason comes up against its limits and choses to negate itself then [e.g. Kirkegaard with faith, Heidegger with anxiety]. Camus thinks that you should recognise your limits and live within them; this means aiming for quantity of pleasure, rather than quality - a more realistic aim. He is, in my opinion, closer to Schopenhauer [despite the lack of metaphysics] than to the existentialists. He also quotes Nietzsche a lot [so that it gets a bit too annoying, at times], although he does not share Nietzsche's grand idea of conquering everything and showing pity to no-one.

Some have commented that this book is heavy in philosophy. I would say that this is the lightest philosophy gets; it is often classified in a "fiction" section, rather than in "philosophy". Someone also said that the absurdist attitude Camus has leaves no room for morals. That was not what this book is about! That person should look up "The Rebel", where he deals with that issue very profoundly.

One thing I found a short-coming in this book is that there are several complications with the issue of suicide that he does not address. For example, if you live under some totalitarian regime, where you can neither indulge in the excesses of Don Juan nor read the books of Kafka nor write anything creatively, where should the meaning of life lie there? Perhaps, this is when the state is trying to be like a religion and assign a value to life for its citizens. As he says on the first page, "a reason to live is an excellent reason to die". Also, in his treatments of religions, he is rather narrow and does not address the Eastern faiths. Schopenhauer saw them as the best answer to the absurdity of the world. Does not Buddhist calm and meditation provide an alternative, without asking to belief in any meaning of life? I was disappointed that he did not address this.

Average customer rating:

Classique de la litterature francaise
Aujourd'hui, Maman est morte.
Tout simplement exquis!
The "Sacred Cow" of Camus and Existentialism
Camus

L'Etranger (Collection Folio, 2)
Albert Camus
Manufacturer: Editions Gallimard
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 2070360024

Customer Reviews:

Classique de la litterature francaise.......2006-01-04

Je fais mon debut comme instite a un lycee. Pour le cours de francais V, on va commencer la litterature avec L'ETRANGER de Camus. Je crois que c'est l'endroit ideal pour commencer, car le livre se presente simplement au lecture, mais le mene aux themes importants de la philosophie francaise/absurdiste. A mon avis personnel, la scene du meurtre sur la plage est exceptionnellement emouvante et vive. Ceux qui disent que c'est n'importe quoi comme livre completement ratent un chef-d'oeuvre.

Aujourd'hui, Maman est morte........2005-11-08

What a way to begin a story?! And what can one say about Camus that hasn't already been said? This is a great novel filled with observations, images and actions carefully stitched into words by a master narrator. If you're a novice to French literature, this is a perfect place to begin.

Tout simplement exquis!.......2005-05-12

Quel roman savoureux. Du passé simple, j'en prendrais volontier. Un incontournable.

The "Sacred Cow" of Camus and Existentialism.......2005-04-30

I first read the novel in english, but I read it in french once I became fluent in that language. After the first sentence: "Aujourd'hui, Maman est morte," you know that you are in the good hands of Albert Camus. The existential theme is just awsome, and it was all the better en français! Surtout, je sait que je l'aimais.

Camus.......2003-11-01

You either love it or hate it. The only way to read it is in French. The last sentence blew me away.

Average customer rating:

Superb Dramatic Monologue
Not the First Choice for Camus Fans
Clearing the air
Camuses Tour De Force?
However...

The Fall
Albert Camus
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

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ASIN: 0679720227
Release Date: 1991-05-07

Book Description

Elegantly styled, Camus' profoundly disturbing novel of a Parisian lawyer's confessions is a searing study of modern amorality.

Customer Reviews:

Superb Dramatic Monologue.......2007-06-12

As others have stated so far this is an interesting and deep novel, one that drags you into its questionable and illusory narration through the use of the first person monologue. With this in mind, the novel becomes necessarily more complex and demands the reader's attention at all times. Nothing should be taken for granted - not the speaker's ideologies, professed history, and certainly not the way in which he is talking to another character. The manner in which the tone and companionship moves throughout the novel is as important as anything else - do not for a second fall into the persistent trap of thinking that Monsieur Clamence is speaking to you, the reader.

The novel requires no extensive knowledge of philosophic topics in order to be appreciated, however, having that knowledge will only enrich the experience. Anyone with an interest in ethics, social roles, confession or simple artistic capability will enjoy this short, but dense novel.

On a final note, the novel presents a startling insight into the nature and power of confession, which is ultimately what Clamence is performing (reliable or not). Foucault's the History of Sexuality Part 1 speaks to this matter, one which is every bit as pertinent to the content and experience of *The Fall* as is any other philosophic or artistic reference, and one that is consistently relevant.

Not the First Choice for Camus Fans.......2007-01-12

Having read Albert Camus's two most famous novels, "The Stranger" and "The Plague", I had high expectations for "The Fall." However, this novel comes up a bit short compared with the others. Although Camus does capture the angst and insecurity of the protagonist through his "confession," the novel lacks the poignancy and coherency of his better works.

Perhaps I am being too harsh, though, for this is still a thought-provoking novel. In it, we are treated to a monologue by an ex-lawyer who is "confessing" his past transgressions to a potential client of his. The narrator, who gives himself the pseudo name Jean-Baptiste Clamence, is unreliable at best. He suffers from delusions of self-grandeur and an innate need for attention and self-importance. The reader is left to question the author's version of events, as his diatribes and confessions render an image of a selfish, self-absorbed man who views himself superior to all others. Indeed, his haughty and arrogant nature has maligned himself with his former colleagues and led to his "fall" from grace.

Although the narrator may be abhorrent in some respects, his weaknesses and failures lead us to ponder how we might behave in a similar situation. In particular is the episode of the woman and the bridge, where he walked away and never turned back after he heard a woman plunge into the Seine River. This haunts him the rest of his days, as he is deathly afraid of encountering a similar situation again. Perhaps it is not the thought of another woman drowning that haunts him, but the revelation that he would not jump in and rescue her merely because he does not want to become cold and wet.

The theme of judges and the ability to judge each other recurs throughout. In a literal sense, Jean has a stolen painting of "The Just Judges" in his abode, whose icy gaze looks out into his life. Indeed, he views himself as the ultimate judge of people, and is fearful of anyone rendering the same judgment upon him. Although an avowed atheist, it is his vague fear of the "Last Judgment" of God that troubles him the most, unlikely as it may be.

There is no action in this novel, as all events are conveyed in flashbacks by the narrator. Indeed, this is is merely one side of a conversation that takes place over a number of days in Amsterdam. At first, we are given a vague view of the narrator as he attempts to piece together his life story through flashbacks. As this jigsaw puzzle nears completion, we are at last rewarded with an understanding of the narrator and his failings. Yet, the story takes time to develop and is droll and dry at times.

Although "The Fall" may fall short in measuring up to Camus's other masterpieces, it is still worth the time to read it. Still, for a Camus novice, "The Plague" or "The Stranger" are better choices.

Clearing the air.......2006-05-12

It is essential to note that Camus was raised in the Catholic tradition, however widely he distanced himself from it in later life; he was not Jewish as a previous reviewer states, perhaps confusing only in that regard Camus with Elie Wiesel.

In all his work, Camus deals with the dilemma posed by the injustices suffered by all humanity. Believing himself faced with the choice between an all-powerful God who allows man's inhumanity to man and a benevolent God who seems powerless to prevent injustice, Camus chose no God at all. I can't agree with him--these two options are not the only possible explanations of injustice--but I respect the courage with which, time and again, Camus confronts us with the question: why do the innocent suffer?

In doing so, he is no respecter of persons, nor is Wiesel. Both are or were profoundly moved by injustice in all forms and instances, and each champions the human rights of all people.

Camuses Tour De Force?.......2006-03-03

For me I think that it is; the monologue style of the writing draws the reader in ever more progressively, it becomes a very personal read. The truth and objectivity of Camuses writing in 'The Fall' both suprises and enlightens, the mood of the book changes significantly from calm confident almost bravado like in the early stages to the complete opposite, the tearing apart though paradoxical is honest and endures on the readers feelings of past, present and future, certainly a book that you can go back to and read again and again.........at the end of the day we are all human and feel all those feelings that are rendered reading this book. I've got a soft spot for the French after reading this, I have a new respect for them...God bless translators

However..........2005-12-06

I think some reviewers have either over-thought or misinterpereted. Camus' The Fall. Camus was not in a point of spiritual or emotional turmoil during this book. Those are the words of one who has read the bible one too many times. Although Jean-Baptiste does quote quite a few stories from the bible, at that time in history almost everyone read the bible at least once, so it may seem through Jean-Baptiste that Camus has strong religious views. Yes, Jean-Baptiste is a very convenient name for a character of a religous story, but I believe Camus' intended use of this name was more for ironic/satircal purposes.

If one follows his life correctly, then they find that the existentialistic Albert Camus was anything but religious. In fact, the pure definition of Existentialism is to believe that there is no order for anything in the universe. To have no divine plan of any one or many person's will. Existentialism also focuses on freedom of choice, and responsibilities for one's actions. Almost the polar opposite view from religion. No, there was no spiritual confusion in Albert Camus life, and if there was, the last thing it would send him to would have been religion.

As far as the novel itself is concerned, La Chute was written AFTER Camus toured the United States during months in 1943 and 1944. Camus found that the US populous, and in fact the world itself, had a very confused idea of existentialism. He wrote The Fall to show the world through Jean-Baptiste exactly what existentialism was; or to be percise, what it wasn't.

The Novel's everlasting wit and satire is what Camus sees as the world's construded view of existentialism. The fact that Jean-Baptiste "crushes them under the weight of his own infirmity" is showing how existentialism emphasizes the taking of responsibility for one's own actions. If all one takes away from The Fall is the sudden realization of hope and faith in the end of the novel, then you might as well only read the last 30 or so pages: The rest of the novel would be a waste of such a person's time.

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The Rebel meets every expectation set out by The Stranger and The Myth of Sisyphus
Camus eclipses nihilism and brings news of a new age!
An inquiry into the ethics of rebellion
Realistic Goals
The Logic of Rebellion

The Rebel: An Essay on Man in Revolt
Albert Camus
Manufacturer: Vintage
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0679733841
Release Date: 1992-01-01

Book Description

By one of the most profoundly influential thinkers of our century, The Rebel is a classic essay on revolution. For Albert Camus, the urge to revolt is one of the "essential dimensions" of human nature, manifested in man's timeless Promethean struggle against the conditions of his existence, as well as the popular uprisings against established orders throughout history. And yet, with an eye toward the French Revolution and its regicides and deicides, he shows how inevitably the course of revolution leads to tyranny. As old regimes throughout the world collapse, The Rebel resonates as an ardent, eloquent, and supremely rational voice of conscience for our tumultuous times.

Translated from the French by Anthony Bower.

Customer Reviews:

The Rebel meets every expectation set out by The Stranger and The Myth of Sisyphus.......2006-11-06

Camus' The Rebel is yet another brilliant outcry of the human conscience, the urge to revolt and man's timeless struggle against the conditions of his existence. Albert Camus is one of the most profoundly influential thinkers of this century. The Rebel is a definite must read for lovers of L'etranger and Myth of Sisyphus. Camus maintains his signature style of short, simple yet hard-hitting sentences that leave a lot to the imagination, thus giving the reader a chance to re-create their our vision. One of the best writers to come out of France, Camus' sharp eye toward the French Revolution shows how inevitably the course of revolution leads to tyranny. Much like his predecessors such as Kierkegaard and Dostoevsky, Albert Camus writes with an unshakable decency and his work is eloquent and supremely rational.

Camus eclipses nihilism and brings news of a new age!.......2005-10-03

I first became interested in Albert Camus after reading a quote from The Rebel online. "I rebel, therefore we exist" was the quote, and I must admit that, after reading the book, there has never been anything truer written. When I was in a bookstore a few months ago I found a copy of The Rebel, which is apparently a rare sight these days, since The Rebel is often ignored. Camus is one of the most famous writers of the 20th century, so why would one of his masterpieces be ignored?

It has been ignored, from what I can gather, because it is a philosophical work in which Camus pulls no punches and examines thoroughly why the excessive crime and violence of our era exist. Camus explains how, in both philosophy and politics, the reigning attitude has been one of nihilism for the past two centuries. This nihilism, being necessarily without an aim, leads to dictatorship and gross amounts of suffering for humans, no matter what principles it claims on the surface. Camus systematically destroys those who have used the philosophies of Hegel, Nietzsche, Marx, surrealism, u.s.w., to justify their murderous plots.

Camus proposes that instead of nihilism and murder, we take to heart the ancient concepts of moderation and responsibility. Camus' destruction of modern governents and his proposals of these ancient ideas seem to have made this book unpopular. In this era of oppression, it is easy to ignore what offends us or makes us think. Camus gives the reader no choice. He must either raise a defiant fist to the giants of power, or he must give way to these minds that are utterly without scruples. I admire Camus deeply because of this--he has summed up the ideas I have been carrying around for years--but some will be deeply hurt by his comments. I leave you with a final thought: everyone is partly to blame for the state of the present and the future. You have the choice to make it either good or bad.

An inquiry into the ethics of rebellion.......2005-07-07

This book followed his 'The Myth of Sisyphus'. Camus explains in the beginning that while his previous work was about the question of suicide, this one is about the other aspect of taking human lives - other people's lives (murder). The book however is not so much about murder, as it is about the ethics of rebellion.

At a deeper ideological level, Camus was reacting to the excesses of Soviet style communism with which he disagreed. He felt that rebellion is always at the risk of falling prey to the very tyranny it revolts against and destroys.

Camus however does not believe that rebellion is therefore not desirable. His humanitarian ideals harmonize with the dream of rebellion. So he tries to answer the question of how rebellion can escape falling prey to tyranny, albiet unsuccessfully, by taking the examples of Russian nihilists who fought tyranny through murder, but nevertheless punished themsleves for that act (because the act of murder becomes tyrranny if routinized).

In all his works, Camus is generally good with analysis but poor in his conclusions. This book is brilliant for its analysis of the ethics of rebellion and the dilemmas of a rebel. It raises important questions and leaves you free to find your own answers. That also harmonizes better with the spirit of existentialism.

Realistic Goals.......2004-07-01

"The Rebel" is really an extended essay by Camus concerning the rejection of religion as a basis for political and social legitimacy in the West, and the consequences of that rejection.

Camus examines the reasons for rebellion - socio-economic and political injustices could no longer be explained by reference to God's will. If such injustices pertain, then how can God be "just"? Therefore does God exist? Camus then goes on to examine, essentially, what a mess has been created by the attempts to replace deism with some other form of over-arching belief: from the exaltation of rationalism in the French Revolution, the primacy of the law, romantic Socialism, Communism, and Fascism. Presciently, he also refers to the limitations of economic materialism. None of these have succeeded in removing injustices, many of them justify repression by promising a just future which can in reality never be attained.

This is an interesting, accessible book. Camus's ultimate conclusions are worth a close read in that they affirm the value of life in its own terms and serve as a wake-up call to what is and is not really achievable for humanity as a whole.

G Rodgers

The Logic of Rebellion.......2003-12-19

Without straying into the dogamtism or the sentinmental romantic mindset that Camus warns of, this book had a profound affect on me as it helped me reconcile my 'reasoned' agnosticism and irreligion with my 'intuitive' socialism. I have since come to the conclusion (with the help of Camus) that both the above aspects of my world-view are logical, and perhaps most importantly,that it is necessary to temper whatever ideolgies you happen to find yourself agreeing with, your own intuitive morality.

This is in my opinion the crux of The Rebel as Camus examines the history of religous (metaphysical) and social rebellion. From the Marquis De Sade and Neitzche in the former to the French Revolution and USSR in the later.

Camus seems to have started from a point of being at a loss to explain the seeming contradictions in apparently well meaning revolution's that dole out (or promise freedom over here) and practice tyranny over there. Camus shows the depth and originality of his thinking by showing that these contradictions can be seen as the logical conclusions to total obediance to the doctrines of Marx, Hegel and Rosseau amoungst others ( these contradictions are found in the works themselves of Marx et al as these thinkers have been 'slaves' to their own logic which can be seen as analagous to Weber's notion of 'over-rationalism' and the 'iron cage' ). The result is a wise and profound analysys of social rebellion and a proscription for future reform as well as presenting a kind of 'eudaimon' for the contemporary existentialist.

The Plague, The Fall, Exile and the Kingdom, and Selected Essays (Everyman's Library)
Average customer rating:

Moving, Thought-Provoking, and Genius

Excellent

The Ultimate Albert Camus Anthology

Love, Exile, and Suffering Illuminated by Life around Death

The Plague, The Fall, Exile and the Kingdom, and Selected Essays (Everyman's Library)
Albert Camus
Manufacturer: Everyman's Library
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Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1400042550
Release Date: 2004-08-17

Book Description

From one of the most brilliant and influential thinkers of the twentieth century–two novels, six short stories, and a pair of essays in a single volume. In both his essays and his fiction, Albert Camus (1913—1960) de-ployed his lyric eloquence in defense against despair, providing an affirmation of the brave assertion of humanity in the face of a universe devoid of order or meaning.

The Plague–written in 1947 and still profoundly relevant–is a riveting tale of horror, survival, and resilience in the face of a devastating epidemic. The Fall (1956), which takes the form of an astonishing confession by a French lawyer in a seedy Amsterdam bar, is a haunting parable of modern conscience in the face of evil. The six stories of Exile and the Kingdom (1957) represent Camus at the height of his narrative powers, masterfully depicting his characters–from a renegade missionary to an adulterous wife –at decisive moments of revelation. Set beside their fictional counterparts, Camus’s famous essays “The Myth of Sisyphus” and “Reflections on the Guillotine” are all the more powerful and philosophically daring, confirming his towering place in twentieth-century thought.

Customer Reviews:

Moving, Thought-Provoking, and Genius.......2006-02-08

I had read Camus's "The Stranger" and was taken aback by the wonderful understanding he had of the human mind. I needed to read more, and in this handsome book was a great feast for the mind. It is not meant to be read all at once, I found it helpful to read another book inbetween the full-length novels within the collection.
There has been no singular work that has moved me as much as the "The Plague, The Fall, Exile and the Kingdom, and Selected Essays", it goes beyond existentialism and his philosophy. It delves into the very mind, that which makes us human. The stories are not lost through their translation from French, the characters are the people you see in the streets, but they are put under the eye of a profound intellectual. It is more than worth the price, and the time spent reading the words is time well spent. His contribution to modern philosophy and existentialism is unchallenged, but he is also an amazing author and voice. The Plague may be the highlight of the book, but one will not lose enthusiasm reading that which follows.

Excellent.......2005-10-10

Albert Camus is one of my favorite authors. His stories are some of the greatest of the past century.

The Ultimate Albert Camus Anthology.......2005-02-27

If you're a fan of existentialism or just great literature then this is the book for you. Just by buying this set you're already saving money and the hardcover makes it great for book shelf eye candy. If you want to read what each section is about then just read the next review but if you're reading this, take into consideration that Camus wasn't awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for nothing. He was deeply involved in the struggles for Algerian freedom and you can tell from his novels that he is consciensly involved with the questions of the absurd and the freedom of man in a messed up world. These books and essays will make you think and start to ask yourself questions.

Love, Exile, and Suffering Illuminated by Life around Death.......2004-09-11

What is the meaning of life? For many, that question is an abstraction except in the context of being aware of losing some of the joys of life, or life itself. In The Plague, Camus creates a timeless tale of humans caught in the jaws of implacable death, in this case a huge outbreak of bubonic plague in Oran, Algeria on the north African coast. With the possibility of dying so close, each character comes to see his or her life differently. In a sense, we each get a glimpse of what we, too, may think about life in the last hours and days before our own deaths. The Plague will leave you with a sense of death as real rather than as an abstraction. Then by reflecting in the mirror of that death, you can see life more clearly.

For example, what role would you take if bubonic plague were to be unleashed in your community? Would you flee? Would you help relieve the suffering? Would you become a profiteer? Would you help maintain order? Would you withdraw or seek out others? These are all important questions for helping you understand yourself that this powerful novel will raise for you.

The book is described as objectively as possible by a narrator, who is one of the key figures in the drama. That literary device allows each of us to insert ourselves into the situation.

Let me explain the main themes. Love is expressed in many ways. There is the love of men and women for each other. Dr. Rieux's wife is ill, and has just left for treatment at a sanitarium. Rambert, a journalist on temporary assignment, is separated from his live-in girl friend in Paris. Dr. Rieux's mother comes to stay with him during his mother's absence, so there is also love of parent and child. The magistrate also loses his son to the plague after a desperate battle. Separations occur because of the quarantine on Oran, which causes love to be tested. What is love without the other person being present? The characters find that their memories soon become abstractions. But they reach out to establish new love with each other. Tarrou, who is also caught in Oran, decides or organize a volunteer corps to help with the sick and dead. Rambert decides to stay in Oran to help after having arranged to escape the quarantine. The survivors find succor in increasing closeness with each other. Rieux and Tarrou become close, almost like brothers. Even Rieux's patients become people with whom he develops an emotional bond, even though the waves of death become an abstraction as he can do little to avert them. The priest figure also helps to explore the notion of love for God and God's love for us. The exile theme is reinforced by the quarantine. People cannot leave Oran. The disease itself causes that exile to become worse. If someone in your household becomes ill, each well person has to be quarantined. So you may be living in a tent in the soccer stadium wondering what is happening to the rest of your family. Cottard is a criminal who is on the run from the authorities. He is in despair as the plague begins, and tries to kill himself. The distractions of the plague keep the authorities from troubling him, so the period of the plague is an exile from his criminal past.

Suffering is easy to explain. Bubonic plague came in two forms in the book. Both brought painful and rapid death, with few reprieves. There is high fever, painful swelling or difficulty in breathing, and enormous pain. Those who tend the suffering also suffer, from the enormous workloads, the sense of futility, and the fear that they, too, will be next.

Camus does a nice job of pointing out that these themes also recur in everyday life. We just don't see them very clearly. The people in Oran live in an ugly city that deliberately built itself away from the beauty of the ocean on a sun-scorched plateau plagued by winds. They take little time to enjoy each other or the ocean, because they are caught up with making money. Commerce is their passion. So they cut themselves off from love, in an exile of spirit, which causes them to shrivel and suffer emotionally even before the plague comes. Tarrou also describes is own sense of the plague in everyday life when he discovers that his father is a prosecuting attorney who helps bring criminals to the justice of a firing squad. Even that faint connection of not trying to stop the legal killing causes Tarrou to feel like he carries the plague within him.

The book is masterful in its use of metaphor. In the beginning, dying rats and small animals presage the plague attacking humans. At the end, their return presages the return of normal life to Oran. The scenes alternate between illuminating the main themes in the context of the physical plague and the emotional plague. Religion is used as a bridge between the two, raising the fundamental question about what God's purpose is in unleashing the plague. The priest is fully tested in his love of God through this development, which is one of the most moving parts of the book.

I have read the book both in French and in English, and found this translation to be a perfectly appropriate one. There are few nuances that you will miss by reading this in English. Obviously, if you read French well, you should read the book in its original form.

This book is an excellent example of why Albert Camus was named a Nobel Laureate in Literature.

After you read this great novel, I encourage you to consider the subject of complacency. That's the author's ultimate target. Where are you complacent in ways that cost you love, closeness with others, and happiness? What else is complacency costing you? How can you help others learn to overcome complacency in loving, happy ways without the spectre of death to help you?

Average customer rating:

Incomplete autobiographical novel lacking a mythic dimension
For addicts only
incomplete, but great work
Albert Camus' The First Man - we have no right to read this
Very Interesting

The First Man
Albert Camus
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0679439374
Release Date: 1995-08-29

Book Description

In The First Man Albert Camus tells the story of Jacques Cormery, a boy who lived a life much like his own. Camus summons up the sights, sounds, and textures of a childhood circumscribed by poverty and a father's death yet redeemed by the austere beauty of Algeria and the boy's attachment to his nearly deaf-mute mother. The result is a moving journey through the lost landscape of youth that also discloses the wellspring of Camus' aesthetic powers and moral vision.

Customer Reviews:

Incomplete autobiographical novel lacking a mythic dimension .......2007-03-14

The manuscript of this book was in the car with Camus when he had his fatal crash. His family held back publication for over thirty years. One reason was the incompleteness of the manuscript. A second was the hostile political atmosphere which had emerged in relation to Camus. Unlike Sartre Camus had refused to justify Soviet crimes. His position on Algeria which was a nuanced one , angered both sides.
The novel itself is closer to a memoir than anything else Camus has written. It lacks the kind of mythic and philosophical dimension of Camus most well- known works, "The Stranger" " The Plague " " The Fall" "The Myth of Sisyphus". it tells the story of a child whose father has been killed in the First World War, and who is raised by his mother and grandmother. It tells of a world of Algerian poverty .And it to tells of how the child finds a way out of this world through having been guided and helped by a beloved teacher. The teacher who Camus honored and remembered throughout his life saw the great ability in young Camus and developed this.
There are some outstanding passages in the book in which Camus shows the reflectiveness so central to his major works
" To begin with poor people's memory is less nourished than that of the rich : it has fewer landmarks in space because they seldom leave the place where they live, and fewer reference points in time throughout lives that are grey and featureles. Of course there is the memory of the heart that they say is the surest kind, but the heart wears out with sorrow and labour, it forgets sooner under the weight of fatigue. Remembrance of things past is just for the rich.For the poor it only marks faint trances on the path to death"

This work it seems does not rank with Camus' best work but does have importance in throwing additional light on the details of the life of one of the great writers and moralists of the twentieth century.

For addicts only.......2005-12-10

This incomplete last novel by Camus tells the story of Jacques Cormery who, by visiting his father's war grave, opens up memories of his childhood in Algeria. He recalls the poverty of his family, his intellectual development, his impressions of the country and the various characters who lived there. The growth of Jacques's self-identity is charted.

As stated above, this novel is incomplete and indeed reads very much as "work in progress". There are footnotes indicating where Camus made marginal notes on his manuscript, and gaps where sentences and paragraphs end in mid-air or where a word in the manuscript was illegible.

This being Camus, there is writing of great descriptive and reflective strength, but clearly there are many other parts he must have wanted either to cut or to develop further (sometimes this is indicated in the notes). As a whole, it really required reworking and editing. To state the obvious, it also needed finishing. The narrative flow is not what it might have been had the author had the chance to complete his task. Ultimately, it's an unfulfilling work.

G Rodgers

incomplete, but great work.......2005-06-08

It is reallly not fair to rate a work that is not complete. As an artist, I know how horrifying it is to show unfinished works to anybody. It really is a violation. However, whether this is Camus's first draft or 2nd draft, the evidence is everywhere what kind of great book it would have been had he had a chance to edit it, re-structure and re-write it. It was a great learning experience for me to study what a potential masterpiece looks like in the early stage of its creation.

In this draft, it seems that he was just writing down everything that had come to his mind, the things that he remembered and thought could be part of the story. It's not edited or organized well, so there are some inconsistency, unfinished sentences, and confusions. The plot is not clear, you don't know where the story is going, and the structure is not solid. There are some parts that can be eliminated as well.
But the writing itself is still very strong and beautiful, and there is a lot of wisdom in it. I especially enjoyed the chapter "the school." In this chapter he talks about the school life of the protagonist and how the teacher M. Bernard taught the children with love and discipline, and how the children loved and adored him, despite the corporal punishment they received from him for misbehaving. It's the kind of teacher-student relationship you rarely see in today's society. Each episode is vivid, detailed, heart-warming, full of wisdom and love, and beautifully written.

At the end of the book, after the story ceases, there is a section called "Interleaves." It's a collection of notes and memos of Camus, bits and pieces of scenes or dialogues, thoughts and ideas, which didn't have a chance to take parts of the book. Obviously Camus was planning to use them. They suggest that had he lived to finish the work, it would have been a totally different story, or that the story would have developed and ended much differently.

While it is disrespectful to read an incompleted work, it would have been a great loss if I didn't read it.
Thus I shall give him bright shining 5 stars, and thank him for having written this story.

Albert Camus' The First Man - we have no right to read this.......2004-09-12

I was going to read this book. I bought it for a graduate class I'm taking in the English department at the university where I am attaining my Master's. Then I looked into the history a bit and decided that to read this book would be to engage in ideological rape. Albert Camus did not give his CONSENT to publish this book in this version. Period. Posthumous publishing of a dead author's UNCOMPLETED work or works is immoral and unethical. I don't need to quench my voyeuristic thirst by reading something the author never intended me to read. Some might argue otherwise, but I just don't see how peeking at your sibling's diary is EVER justified. It is someone else's private property, we don't have a right to read it without their permission.

Sincerely,

Sean Hooks

Very Interesting.......2004-05-16

Camus' final book, found in the wreckage the day his life was taken. "The First Man" is incomplete and lacking Camus polishing, which would have made the novel more discreet.
"The First Man" is the tale of Jacques Cormory. His life, his struggles, his personal revelations, and his relationships are all Albert Camus'. "The First Man" is a biographical novel. This is an actual account (name changes?) of Camus' experiences, it is really nothing like any of his other works, but it's not lacking in words of wisdom, or the why(?) and how(?) of things.

Average customer rating:

A high-school reunion gone bad...
Short stories for philosophers, literature snobs, and lovers of the unusual
A gathering of some of Camus' finest short stories
Amazing.
LET ME OUT OF HERE

Exile and the Kingdom
Albert Camus
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0307278581
Release Date: 2007-02-13

Book Description

From a variety of masterfully rendered perspectives, these six stories depict people at painful odds with the world around them. A wife can only surrender to a desert night by betraying her husband. An artist struggles to honor his own aspirations as well as society's expectations of him. A missionary brutally converted to the worship of a tribal fetish is left with but an echo of his identity. Whether set in North Africa, Paris, or Brazil, the stories in Exile and the Kingdom are probing portraits of spiritual exile, and man’s perpetual search for an inner kingdom in which to be reborn. They display Camus at the height of his powers.

Now, on the 50th anniversary of the book’s publication, Carol Cosman’s new translation recovers a literary treasure for our time.

Albert Camus won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957.

Customer Reviews:

A high-school reunion gone bad..........2007-06-03

Having not read Camus since my school days, with the exception, that is, of his play *Caligula,* I picked up this collection of short stories remembering Camus as an old favorite. I wonder if I would now find *The Stranger* and *The Plague* just as passé.

These stories just don't hold up, if they ever did. Are they really considered representative of Camus `at the height of his power,' as the biographical note to this edition maintains? I'd have to think, indeed hope, that was just hype.

Delivered with all the subtlety of a trumpeting elephant, the themes comprising *The Exile and The Kingdom* seemed terribly dated, naïve, and without any particular distinction as great literature. As translated, the stories are written with admirable clarity in predominately short, clean sentences reminiscent to me somewhat of Hemingway, which makes the reading quick and simple--but after fifty years, Camus isn't only saying nothing new; he isn't saying anything old in a particularly compelling way either.

Perhaps the best story is *The Renegade*--a `mad' monologue delivered by a missionary captured by a savage tribe in the middle of a salt wasteland and converted to their religion of uncompromising cruelty. Probably the worst of the lot is *The Artist At Work*--a didactic author omniscient narrative that has the simplicity of a fable and all the clichés of one, too.

In the end, I'd like to think that *The Exile and the Kingdom* is a collection of basically throw-away work of fourth-rate Camus that nonetheless made its way into print--and stayed in print so long--because of Camus's Nobel Prize-winning status. And because, at his level of literary importance and influence, everything he's written is of lasting interest, if only to Camus scholars. I'd like to think that, but I'm not so sure. One thing I am sure of, however, is that these weren't of much interest to me at all.

Short stories for philosophers, literature snobs, and lovers of the unusual.......2007-04-30

Albert Camus, born in Algeria in 1913, won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1957 and died three years later, but his writings live on. This collection of six unusual, strange-endinged stories will probably be of interest to a wide range of short story fans. Sometimes seemingly vague and symbolic (and with odd titles and endings), they are thoroughly enjoyable and readable. Though similar in complexity, subject matter and settings vary greatly: a woman joins her fabric-selling husband on a business trip, a detongued former missionary awaits his replacement, barrel makers strike, a prisoner is foisted on a schoolmaster, an artist works amidst ever-changing chaos, and an engineer visits inhabitants near the site of a future dam. Exile and the Kingdom is an excellent, strange, brief book. Other strange short stories: Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami.

A gathering of some of Camus' finest short stories.......2005-09-04

Justin O'Brien's translation renders beautifully into English six of Camus' finest stories, including the masterpiece "The Guest."

Amazing........2004-01-04

This is one of my favorite books. All deep meaning and pointless over evaluation aside, these stories are amazing. The descriptions of the landscapes, the actions of the characters, the intense things that went on, were all described with amazing language. I loved how, expecially in "The Growing Stone" and "The Renegade" you feel as if you are in the world that is being described. The realness of these very strange situations is an amazing vacation of a sort, and shows the inherent beauty in reality.

LET ME OUT OF HERE.......2003-06-30

Well, here I am again with Albert Camus. This is the third review of one of his works that I've written. I thought The Stranger was a great work and so I went on to The Fall and found it lacking. I've found that Camus is at his best when he concentrates on a story instead of preaching to his audience. Yeah, you can put philosophical ideas in fiction but you have to clothe it deeply enough in story. In Exile and the Kingdom (1958), a book of 6 short stories comes closer to the storytelling brillance of The Stranger but doesn't quite pull it off.

Most of the stories in the book are about people that are being repressed by society in one form or another. They have gotten sick of their lives and are on the cusp of breaking down or screaming out or surrendering to their fate. Some of them escape and some of the characters don't.

The first story, "The Adulterous Woman" is about a woman who has been married too long and while visiting an Arab town begins to awaken her physical being to the sights and sounds of the desert and of other men.

"The Renegade" shows what happens when a missionary priest is captured by a tribe of savages and is forced to worship a pagan idol. This is one of the more effective stories and reminds me of the first person style of The Fall.

"The Silent Men" concerns us with one of the favorite pasttimes of Europeans, namely the labor dispute. It is about the relations between some barrelmakers and their boss. Not exactly high drama.

In "The Guest", a schoolteacher on a remote mountain, isolated from civilization, is given the responsibility of escorting a murderer to the civil authorities.

"The Artist at Work" is the greatest story in the book. It is about the continual conflict between an artist's desire to be a part of society and the need he has for solitude. The painter in this story gets married, has kids, tries to be a celebrity, and almost destroys his very reason for being. Almost everyone, even his disciples, are unknowingly killing him because they never allow him time to work.

The last story in the book, "The Growing Stone" was almost completely a waste of time. I know it was about a French engineer going to a rainforest village to construct a flood prevention system but beyond that it got shaky. I know he went to one of their celebrations and saw something like a voodoo ceremony but beyond that I didn't have a clue as to what was going on. I'm sure it was one of those Heart of Darkness things where civilized European confronts dark forces of the jungle and loses.

This book as a whole was OK. Nothing bad. Just Ok. The artist story was quite good even though it was a bit melodramatic and romantic. "The Renegade" I'll have to read again but I believe it to be quite masterful too. As for the other stories, I don't see that you would miss anything if you didn't read them. There just doesn't seem to be a lot going on in them. The characters aren't given enough to make us interested in them. In fact, I don't think any of these stories are essential to Camus' work or French literature. They were just average to me. Read The Stranger instead.

Resistance, Rebellion, and Death: Essays
Average customer rating:

The agony of a humanist

Bracing clarity

An essential to the library called your mind

"In the service of truth and the service of freedom."

A good book.....

Resistance, Rebellion, and Death: Essays
Albert Camus
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0679764011
Release Date: 1995-08-29

Customer Reviews:

The agony of a humanist.......2005-07-07

This collection of essays is the most brilliant one of Camus' diverse smaller non-fiction writings. The bulk of this book concerns his journalistic writings on the Algerian Revolution, Soviet Union etc. Through these essays, you understand the pain of Camus. Camus' ethics doesn't agree to mindless violence for the sake of power. He makes an impassioned plea for tolerance and humanitarian solutions to the problems of war and peace.

Camus is not necessarily logical or politically correct. His stand on the issue of independence of Algeria is a compromised position between French imperialism and Algerian aspirations for freedom during that period. However, in his passion for diagnozing the problems of his time and addressing them, he hits upon a lot of interesting insights and arguments.

Particularly brilliant for both its analysis and its conclusion is Camus' landmark long essay 'Reflections on the Guillotine' which occupies a fair part of the book. In this essay, Camus systematically demolishes all legal or quasi-moral justifications for capital punishment and answers the third aspect of the question - Whether human life is worth taking?

In his 'The Myth of Sisyphus', he had argued against self-murder. In 'The Rebel', he argued against murder and genocide. In this essay, he argues against legalized murder. But unlike his earlier works where he offered weak arguments after a brilliant analysis, here he hits the mark by demolishing the justifications for capital punishment, totally. This particular essay deserves to be considered a classic in the philosophy of law and justice.

Bracing clarity.......2004-12-03

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It has provided me with the strongest, most clear-headed confidence in the face of unrelenting hypocrisy and struggle. Camus was on the side of the angels for all of the conflicts of his time, a time that saw the darkest face of humanity. His arguments for compassion and justice are utterly transfixing and revelatory, and written with a clarity and insight that are simply breath-taking.

I challenge anyone that supports the death penalty to read "Reflections on the Guillotine" and walk away with their arguments intact. In this piece Camus utterly demolishes every argument for state-sanctioned murder while defending the right to live with dignity, a right that can easily encompass the self-defense by combat necessitated by circumstance.

Camus was a moral, intellectual, and physical hero, and reading these essays one is almost overcome by his sense of humilty, justice, and compassion. His writing is so crystalline, it's almost jolting. This is a powerful tonic for all those that despair of creating a place for the best qualities of the human race in times of utter darkness. A must-read.

An essential to the library called your mind.......2003-02-01

For nearly 30 years I have carried this book with me virtually everywhere. No, it's not "an easy read" - but it is worth buying (owning)and treasuring - if only for the FOURTH LETTER (to a German Friend)- it is the most moving argument/declaration for humanity and choosing it that I have ever seen anywhere.

Some (like Sartre?) might call it a "rationalization". But even those who have resigned themselves to the religions of cynicism and despair - could find a remnant of fight and even "goodness" (yikes!) inside themselves. Camus' words remind us that resignation and the inevitable indifference and inhumanity that follow are the ultimate betrayals of life.

While there is nothing "cheerful" or even optimistic about these writings - you'd have to be cold-blooded, heartless and completely beyond repair or redemption not to be inspired by the wistful aspirations that Camus exudes from his admittedly battered heart and soul.

I disagree with the reviewer (who did praise this precious book) Sartre is smart - but so is Camus - and Camus exudes the humanity that Sartre can't even see or imagine.

Sartre would tell us that we always have the freedom to at least rattle our chains (at least theoretically) - but Camus has the power to inspire us to want to.

"In the service of truth and the service of freedom.".......2001-04-05

"I step onto the podium only when forced to by the pressure of circumstances and by my conception of my function as a writer." (p. 132) From the circumstances of Fascist Spain and Nazi occupied France, to the circumstances of the Hungarian and Algerian struggles for freedom, Camus' essays demand involvement, require action in the face of hopelessness. He never offers a moment's peace for couch-potato complacency. "Freedom is not made up principally of privileges; it is made up especially of duties." (p. 96)

To read these essays is to step into the world of a man who said to Christians "I share with you the same revulsion from evil. But I do not share your hope, and I continue to struggle against this universe in which children suffer and die." (p. 71) And "Perhaps we cannot prevent this world from being a world in which children are tortured. But we can reduce the number of tortured children." (p. 73)

Camus is recalled to the podium, in a day when children are tortured and die in Chiapas while most turn a blind eye and complain that sitcoms just aren't what they used to be. These essays, possibly his most accessible work, demand an active response from the modern reader. Our struggle today, although not against Nazi minions, still must echo his "There are means that cannot be excused. I should like to be able to love my country and still love justice." (p. 5) [See Jamal's Live from Death Row and Peltier's Prison Writings, elsewhere on Amazon.]

Camus is outspoken about capital punishment, too. "It is obviously no less repulsive than the crime, and this new murder, far from making amends for the harm done to the social body, adds a new blot to the first one." (p. 176) His "Reflections on the Guillotine" is the longest essay in book. He views capital punishment, even in "free" societies, as an act of totalitarianism.

Camus proclaims the call to justice and the struggle for freedom found in the Old Testament, especially in the minor prophets. But he does so in a modern context, where God is silent and man is the maker of his own destiny. Although he sees no messianic age, he proclims the hope that by continuous effort evil can be diminished and freedom and justice may become more prevalent.

Five stars for courage, five stars for clarity, five stars for consistency. After the abortion of democracy on December 9, 2000, every freedom and justice seeking American needs to read this book.

(If you would like to respond to this review, click on the "about me" link above & send me email. Thanks!)

A good book............2000-08-22

Camus' essays are obviously more difficult to read than hisstories, and quite possibly more difficult to read than his philosophical investigations as well. Should they be read? Of course. In them, he speaks of similar topics (i.e. what to do in the face of absurditiy, human moral dilemmas, etc.) as he does in the other books, though in a more precise, more direct fashion. His views on the death penalty shaped my own almost completely.

What you get in this book are coherent arguments by a coherent, nuainced thinker. Is Sartre smarter than Camus? Camus knew enough to fear most -isms and -ologies where Sartre did not... (not that I recommend ignoring Sartre either! )

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