L'Etranger (Folioplus Classiques) (French Edition) [Mass Market Paperback]

Albert Camus (Author), Meriam Korichi (Other Contributor), Agnes Verlet (Other Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2005 | ISBN-10: 207030602X | ISBN-13: 978-2070306022

L'Etranger has the force and fascination of myth. The outwardly simple narrative of an office clerk who kills an Arab, 'a cause du soleil', and finds himself condemned to death for moral insensibility becomes, in Camus's hands, a powerful image of modern man's impatience before Christian philosophy and conventional social and sexual values. For this new edition Ray Davison makes use of recent critical analysis of L'Etranger to give a full and concise description of Camus's early philosophy of the Absurd and the ideas and preoccupations from which the novel emerges. Davison also discusses the developing pattern of Camus's notion of the art of the novel, his views on 'classicism', simplicity and ambiguity, his fondness for paradox, and his love of everyday situations which yield to mythical interpretation.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: French, English --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 207 pages
• Publisher: Editions Gallimard (March 2005)
• Language: French
• ISBN-10: 207030602X
• ISBN-13: 978-2070306022
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #286,222 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars meilleur livre de Camus, June 28, 2003

By 

H. Georges (montréal, canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: L'étranger (Collection Folio, no. 2) (French Edition) (Mass Market Paperback)

L'histoire est plutôt bien, pas trop ennuyante. Elle est très courte. On découvre l'absurdité de la vie à travers le personnage de Meursault. Le livre est beaucoup mieux que la peste.
C'est écrit simplement car Camus fait comme si c'était Meursault qui nous racontait l'histoire et celui-ci est plutôt simple.
Je conseille de le lire en français c'est mieux.

21 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars decide for yourself, May 23, 2000

By 

Dindrane "reads anything" (Alabama) - See all my reviews

This review is from: L'étranger (Collection Folio, no. 2) (French Edition) (Mass Market Paperback)

The Stranger follows the "adventures" of Meaursault, a French-Algerian, as he tries to make his way through the Universe in a life he neither asked for, nor understands, but is doing his best to navigate. The action is muted and secondary to the motivations and thoughts of Meaursault and the revealing of Camus' philosophy.

If you haven't read anything else by Camus, you probably had to read The Stranger in high school. But now may be a good time to give it another chance. The novel falls into three parts, each marked by a death. Straightforward and simple, the novel presents its plot clearly enough, a good foil for the philosophy of the author. Camus said of this book that it portrayed "the nakedness of man when faced with the absurd" and every life is absurd. Meaursault is not what you would expect as the hero of a novel; he is just an everyday guy, perfect for the role, really, since his job is to reveal the author's version of the truths that are universal, not applicable only to a few. As an atheist, he has no preconceptions about his life or the direction it should take and is at the "mercy" of the world.

An Existentialist, Camus is not always a bundle of laughs to read, but always has interesting commentary to make about the world and the importance of accepting who you are and learning to deal with your true strengths and weaknesses. It isn't saying you should be this or that, but saying that you should just be. Don't concentrate on becoming some other person's version of success, because, after all, we're all just going to end up dead anyway. A kind of Existentialist carpe diem message for anyone who has ever felt like a stranger, and that's probably everyone. As Meaursault himself would say, "the truth shall set you free." It is a difficult read in some ways, but it will leave you changed.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a simple, classic existentialist french read, December 15, 2007

By 

G. Hess "Merenguera" (Madison, WI) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: L'Etranger (Folioplus Classiques) (French Edition) (Mass Market Paperback)

This book is incredibly easy to read in French. It was the first book I ever attempted to read in French, the language is simple, but the ideas bigger. I think that it illustrates how one might live as un être en soi, instead of an être pour soi, as we ought to be. Meursault's existance is an ontological horror, he exists for others. He will write a letter that is sure to cause unjust injury to a woman, just because he sees no reason not to please his friend Raymond. He will marry a woman he doesn't love just to make her happy. This is like hte behavior of a dog trying to please its master.
horrific, contagious thought pattern.
5 stars