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Title: Exile and the Kingdom by Albert Camus, Erroll McDonald ISBN: 067973385X Publisher: Vintage Books Pub. Date: 1991 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.91
Rating: 5
Summary: A lesson
Comment: I believe that this book should be read along with the Fall, for as Camus intended, the two works lend insight into each other. I don't believe it's quite accurate to boil these stroies down into existential philosophy and social crticism. There is something to Camus' work which speaks to more hidden aspirations. This is an incredible collection of stories, who's diversity defies Hemingway. However, unlike the other reviews, I don't believe that the stories are about exile in such a simple way. Many of the charcters seem to be liberated at the end of their stories...or, imprisoned. Either way, the exile involved here, I think, may have more to do with the kingdom of God. Take that as you will. This is a strong piece of literature.
Rating: 2
Summary: LET ME OUT OF HERE
Comment: 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.
Rating: 5
Summary: Terrific Reading
Comment: I read "The Guest" in high school, and then decided to take a Camus class in college, which is when I took it upon myself to buy all the literature I could. My first comment: this book is excellent. Secondly: all of these stories contain a character that is liberated in some kind of way, whether the result be freedom or imprisonment. They are still liberated, exiled into another kind of life. That is precisely his point in writing this book and calling it EXILE AND THE KINGDOM. These stories are interesting and will keep you reading until you are done, which is precisely the way a book should be written.
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Title: The Fall by Albert Camus, Justin O'Brien, Erroll McDonald ISBN: 0679720227 Publisher: Vintage Books Pub. Date: 1991 List Price(USD): $10.00 |
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Title: The First Man by Albert Camus, Sarah Burnes, David Hapgood, Catherine Camus ISBN: 0679768165 Publisher: Vintage Books Pub. Date: 1996 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: The Rebel: An Essay on Man in Revolt by Albert Camus ISBN: 0679733841 Publisher: Vintage Books Pub. Date: 1992 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: The Plague by Albert Camus, Stuart Gilbert ISBN: 0679720219 Publisher: Vintage Books Pub. Date: 1991 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: A Happy Death by Albert Camus, Richard Howard ISBN: 0679764003 Publisher: Vintage Books Pub. Date: 1995 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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