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The Outsider
Series: Penguin Modern Classics
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See moreMeursault, his anti-hero, will not lie. When his mother dies, he refuses to show his emotions simply to satisfy the expectations of others. And when he commits a random act of violence on a sun-drenched beach near Algiers, his lack of remorse compounds his guilt in the eyes of society and the law. Yet he is as much a victim as a criminal.
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Description
The classic existentialist novel, in a wonderful new translation by Sandra Smith, now in paperback.
Meursault leads an unremarkable bachelor life in Algiers until he commits a random act of violence. His lack of emotion and failure to show remorse only increase his guilt in the eyes of the law, and challenge the fundamental values of society—a set of rules so binding that any person breaking them is condemned as an outsider.
For Meursault, this is an insult to his reason; for Camus, it encapsulates the absurdity of life. In The Outsider (1942), his classic existentialist novel, Camus explores the predicament of the individual who is prepared to face the indifference of the universe, courageously and alone.
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Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?
The Outsider by Albert Camus is praised for its respectful and delicate treatment by Smith in her new version. This edition uncovers an edgy strangeness and retains the sensual and rhythmic quality of Camus' original prose.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9780141198064
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 31 October 2013
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Penguin Classics
Contributors:
- Translated by Sandra Smith
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 8.0mm
Width: 128.0mm
Height: 197.0mm
Weight: 102g
Pages: 128
About the Author
Albert Camus (1913-1960), French novelist, essayist and playwright, is one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century. His most famous works include The Myth of Sisyphus (1942), The Plague (1947), The Just (1949), The Rebel (1951) and The Fall (1956). He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957, and his last novel, The First Man, unfinished at the time of his death, appeared in print for the first time in 1994, and was published in English soon after by Hamish Hamilton. Sandra Smith was born and raised in New York City and is a Fellow of Robinson College, University of Cambridge, where she teaches French Literature and Language. She has won the French American Foundation Florence Gould Foundation Translation Prize, as well as the PEN Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize.
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