Albert Camus: The Stranger (New York: Random House, 1989 Edition.)

I recently decided that I read Camus a long time ago and viewed what I read through the eyes of a young adult. Now that I am older and have collected more life experiences, I suspect that I might discover new meanings in the work of the existentialist novelist. I originally read The Stranger in French as a college student. I caught there story of a man who finds himself in an awkward position and ends up killing another. His subsequent arrest, trial, conviction and sentencing to death fill out the story. Filling out the story, however, is only a framework upon which Camus hangs his philosophy of the absurdity of life.

This Vintage edition is extremely well translated by Matthew Ward and re-visiting Camus is a delightful adventure. There are certain philosophical works that bear different meanings at different stages in one’s life. The story and its characters continue to haunt, but the view of life seems more of a challenge to me these days than was the case when I was a college student.