Albert Camus, L’étranger (1942, Methuen Educational 1970)
My practice of reading a couple of pages from a classic book every morning has been in abeyance since I finished reading Montaigne’s essays in January (final report at this link).
When a copy of L’Étranger turned up in a street library after Camus had cropped up in other reading – The Incorrigible Optimists Club and The Visionaries – I took it as a sign from the universe. I’ve read quite a lot about Camus, but not anything by him, except in excerpts and perhaps a play whose name I don’t remember. [Added later: I did read The Plague when I was 19, at my older brother’s bidding. I think I failed to think of it because I read it before I knew anything about Camus or existentialism, so it’s stored in a different file in my memory.]
My copy of the book has a protective plastic cover and the pencilled name of a former 6th form owner. There are pencilled notes on translation, but only on the first four pages (either her French got a lot better or she decided it wasn’t worth the effort to write). It also has some pedagogical apparatus – an introduction, a vocabulary, and a bibliography of critical studies, all of which I intend to ignore as far as possible.
I’ve just read Camus’ short avant-propos from 1955 in which he says that his protagonist, Meursault, becomes an outsider because, unlike the rest of us, he does not lie by exaggerating his feelings (‘majorer ses sentiments‘). Tomorrow morning I’ll start the text itself, and will report back in a month’s time.
Me fail? I fly! 
Hi Jonathan, I’m genuinely amazed that you hadn’t read a Camus novel until now. Damien White gave me a crash course in all things Camus in the first months of 1968. A great writer.
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I know. All of Camus, plus Pride and Prejudice, are my main badges of shame
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What!!! ALL of Camus AND P&P! Shame on you Jonathan – haha. Seriously though, I read L’étranger in 6th form, and fell in love with him though I didn’t always fully understand him. Then at university in a course called French civilisation and ideas I chose him as mr major project and read all his novels. I love The plague and have read it several times. Including recommending it to my reading group as our classic many years ago. I’d love to read The outsider again, as I read it again (in English that time) for that project but not since. I look forward to your post though I might miss it as we are heading off for Japan this afternoon!
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Oh, how could I have forgotten The Plague? My older brother thrust it into my hands when I was 19, along with the Catcher in the Rye, with the clear intention of Broadening My Horizons. I loved it, though I’m sure I’d read it differently today.
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How could you Jonathan … haha … seriously though it is one of my favourite all time books.
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I’ve just put it in my reread list
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I read The Plague during one of the Sydney lockdowns, which added a certain frisson to the story. But I think I’d like to reread it one day without being in the middle of one!
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I’m the other way round. I wish I’d made the time to reread it during lockdowns!
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