Standing On A Beach: Camus & The Existential Canon

Advantages: A Work Of Genius
Disadvantages: Extremely Disturbing...

...BACKGROUND: 'In our society,' wrote Albert Camus, 'any man who doesn't cry at his mother's funeral is liable to be condemned to death.' This may seem a bewilderingly dramatic, almost self-indulgent sort of assertion, but it is one which Camus brought to life in The Outsider, and to frankly devastating effect. The Outsider has become something of a cult classic over the years, especially in undergraduate circles. It inspired The Cure's 'Killing an Arab', a song which attracted a degree of controversy when it was (wrongly) assumed to advocate racial violence. The Outsider itself has also been subject to an array of assumptions and misconceptions, particularly with regards to its philosophical project. In my opinion, however, it is not only one of the great novels of the Twentieth Century, but also one that provides a useful introduction to...

snowbunni 03.01.2006 · Read review
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Review of The Outsider - Albert Camus

The Outsider by Albert Camus

Advantages: Fantastic Storyline
Disadvantages: Drags at times

...From the beginning of time society has developed and redefined the way people ought to live and act, and exercised the power to elevate or banish people as it pleases. Therefore citizens not living by this rigid prescriptive framework are seen as outcasts and are treated with disrespect and zero tolerance Comprehending and accepting are too very different things. We must first understand a situation before truly been able to accept it. Albert Camus mirrors this concept in the novel "The Outsider", by introducing us to a character that we must first understand and then accept. He welcomes us into the world of an Individual's struggle to cope with the callousness of the society in which he lives. Meursault, the main character, believes that all he said and did, throughout his life was rational and thus he was only found guilty, of his...

marvello 21.02.2006 · Read review
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Review of The Outsider - Albert Camus

Blood and sand.

Advantages: Many diverse and deep themes, Highly re-readable, succinct and concise.
Disadvantages: Dry narrative.

...The Outsider, (L'Étranger) (1942) is a classic French Absurdist\Existentialist novel by author and Philosopher Albert Camus. It entails the result of an individual who deviates from the norm by following his own moral code of employing values of honesty and relentless truth in all his actions, with no delusions of heroism or grandeur. A Frenchman, Mersault, following the death of his Mother is accused of murdering an Arab whilst staying with some friends. The book then deals with his subsequent arrest and the trial that follows. The protagonist's refusal to fabricate a degree of emotion he does not feel, (as opposed to abnegating to state a fact that is false) is what ultimately condemns him. The book's focus is reflection upon concepts rather than plot itself, and so the narrative suffers somewhat due to its lack of detail...

Mutalisk 11.07.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Outsider - Albert Camus

How socially acceptable are you?

Advantages: a thought-provoking read
Disadvantages: A little dark and despairing

...I first read this book about 12 years ago when I was desperately trying to appear to be a worldly intellect. Instead, I am sure I came across as more of a pretentious twit. I picked it up again over the weekend when I was looking for something to read in the bath. At 31 years old, the book hit an entirely different tone this time. Author: Albert Camus Original date of Publish: 1942 Genre: Fiction No of Pages: 117 RRP: £8.99 Amazon Price: £6.74 ***What The Outsider is about*** Meursault is a relatively solitary man who for whatever reason does not show or express emotions in a conventional manner. The novel begins when Meursault attends his mother?s funeral and covers the events that follow, including a murder for which he is responsible. After the murder, Mearsault must come to terms with his own mortality and see...

ally2kc 07.08.2007 · Read review
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Review of The Outsider - Albert Camus

The Absurdity of Life.

Advantages: A good introduction to the author.
Disadvantages: Not a lot of plot.

...Introduction ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Frequently I am given gifts of books to read by well-meaning people that feel I may run out of reading matter. Some are new books others are second-hand so I find myself with many types of genres that would normally not interest me, but in the spirit of trying something new I never pass the gift by. For a while now I have put off reading ?The Outsider? as philosophy is one area I leave to the intellectuals but having nothing to read recently I decided to give the book a try, after at, at 118 pages that?s a mere hour?s reading time for me. I?ll keep my observations to the end as usual but before you decide this review is one to miss I?d just like to say that I surprised myself by not only enjoying the read but pondering on it?s meaning. Albert Camus was a French writer of mainly philosophical...

Elffriend 10.04.2005 · Read review
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Review of The Outsider - Albert Camus

A compelling tale of human struggle

Advantages: a compelling, if gruelling read
Disadvantages: none as far as I can see

...I was seventeen years old when I first read Albert Camus' novel about an outbreak of bubonic plague in the Algerian city of Oran, when I read it as part of my A-Level French studies. It had such an effect on me that I now have copies of it in both French and English. Albert Camus was Algerian and won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957. His other works include 'The Rebel', 'The Fall' and 'The Outsider'. He was tragically killed in a car crash in 1960. 'The Plague' can be read on several levels. It can be seen as a straight narrative story, or as an allegory of the German occupation of France in the 1940's. It can also be read as an indictment of bureaucratic inhumanity, or indeed the human race rebelling against an absurd universe. The story outline is as follows. Oran, a large port on the coast of Algeria, is afflicted...

Nolly 17.05.2002 · Read review
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Review of The Plague - Albert Camus

No Close Encouters but plenty of Alienation

Advantages: May Challenge your Views
Disadvantages: May Challenge your Views

...Every society, even virtual societies, have a set of unwritten rules to follow. If a person does not follow these so called rules or does not play the game then they will be alienated by their society. The Outsider by Albert Camus is a story about a man who doesn’t play the game and the isolation that follows because he doesn’t want to follow the unwritten rules. Albert Camus was an Algerian novelist and this book was first written in French in 1942 titled L’Etranger. The book is set in Algiers and it sets out the relationships and interactions that Mersault, the main character, has with his friends and associates. His life is painted as relatively ordinary until he perpetrates an act of violence. His reaction to this act frames the whole of the book and questions the fundamental morals of society that are set so...

jason.rowe 09.02.2001 (20.02.2001) · Read review
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Review of The Outsider - Albert Camus

Drier than a camel in a saharan heatwave

Advantages: You get to feel like you are reading something culty
Disadvantages: Ultimately unrewarding

...I normally make sure I have read books through very attentively before I attempt to write a review for Ciao. However, with The Plague, this seems impossible. However I try, it seems I cannot manage to stuggle through the thing. I am now about half way through and it's completion has become a real labour. I will finish it though. After all, reviews (not least the other one in this catagory on Ciao) have told me how wonderful the writer and book are, how accurately the plague signifies the German occupation of Frnace that Camus fought against and how moving certain phrases in the book have been to them. So I am determined to find out where this credited genius is. My conclusion is that it can only be in the latte rhalf of the book. Genius certainly did not touch the first half. It is as dry as a sandpapered sauna-towel coated in...

anotherwiseguy 28.07.2002 · Read review
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Review of The Plague - Albert Camus

Absurdly good

Advantages: Easy to read, engaging, memorable, makes you think
Disadvantages: Surely none

...a threat due to his insensitive behaviour. It's not really his behaviour that is insensitive, rather that he lacks the capability to lie. His unashamed expression of feelings deemed as cold leave him marked as a threat. The punishment is certain death. This makes you think: Has there ever been a time when you should've felt an emotion but didn't? More correctly did you play up an emotion that was thought to exist but didn't arise at all? It may indeed show humanity to be remorseful, but if you don't admit it whether you feel it or not, well that's just unacceptable! Camus in his no-fat wording exploits this human flaw and takes it further. Mersault's only acknowledgment of life is tangible, physical things rather than corruptible emotion. Old Salamano, his dog and 'robot woman' Masson snatch us away from the chaos of the book now...

mo79 06.12.2005 · Read review
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Review of The Outsider - Albert Camus

An ill read

Advantages: A dark picture of physical and mental suffering, and man's response to dealing with tragedies and overcoming them
Disadvantages: Probably poorly translated, not very punchy and gripping, and takes considerate effort to glean enjoyment and understanding

...that they seem detached in comparison to the described scale ravages of the town. Although this compromise does help portray the emptiness and the sickness of the town in haunting detail; right from emotional switch flips and the daily incineration of corpses. And it's this engagingness which does zip the book right upto an averagely readable mark, but this edition's translation (which has been in print since 1948!) is awkward and may have turned off many readers, added to the fact that the story in general doesn't match the punchy and timeless precision of 'The Outsider', which will, I think, dissapoint people who have read that first, like myself. Not a bad read, but I'd recommend future purchasers to probably purchase the new translation, or better to read 'The Outsider' if they haven't already, as that's the only Camus book I...

mo79 04.11.2002 · Read review
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Review of The Plague - Albert Camus