Classics for Beginners discussion

About a year ago, this group read The Plague by Camus as the Ebola virus was ravaging Western Africa. I found the book so relevant that I have been eager to read another Camus book.

We are going to try something new this month. We will divide the book into two sections. This thread is for discussing Part 1 ONLY. There should not be any spoiler comments in this thread. If you want to discuss the book as a whole, please use the spoiler thread. Thanks.

Albert Camus won the Nobel prize for literature in 1957. He led a very interesting life. A biography written by the Nobel Prize committee is found here. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prize...

I read the book during the summer. I must say, I had really been looking forward to reading it but somehow struggled my way through it... So, I'll happily join the discussion, maybe it'll help me to understand and appreciate the book better!

So far, I am enjoying it, but I have only read 5 pages!

I'm going to be reading the Penguin Modern Classics version, The Outsider, translated by Sandra Smith.

It seems that all of the English translations are a little bit contentious, so I'm also going to try reading the original French alongside. My French is... not great, so I might live to regret this!

I read it in French as well and it really is not a difficult read. Try it! The language is not complex and uses mainly quite common words.

You're right - it's much easier to read than I expected. Very tightly written, isn't it? Not a single superfluous word.

I'm glad it works well for you! Yes, tighly written is a good way of putting it. But that also gives it a somewhat distant feeling, no? The story never got inside me and I did not get inside it, if you know what I mean.

Holls wrote: "I'm going to be reading the Penguin Modern Classics version, The Outsider, translated by Sandra Smith.

It seems that all of the English translations are a little bit contentious, so I'm also goin..."

This might be an interesting discussion. My book is translated into English by Matthew Ward. He has a note in the beginning of the book comparing his translation to Stuart Gilbert, who gave a "Britannic" rendering. Mr. Ward tries to give a more "American" quality as well as attempting to "capture what he (Camus) said and how he said it, not what he meant."

He continues by saying that no sentence in French literature in English translation is better known than the opening sentence of The Stranger. "It has become a sacred cow of sorts and I have changed it."

So what is the first sentence of your book?

Smith translates the first line as, "My mother died today", which doesn't seem quite right to me. There's a lot going on in just a few words!

Nina mentioned the distant feeling of the writing a couple of posts above, and in the original, the opening line is also distant - it's baked in right from the start. By starting with "Today," the emphasis is placed more on the moment than on his mother, and the English translation loses that sense. "Maman" is quite an interesting word, too, because it doesn't imply distance, rather it's warm and familiar. A bit of a paradox, there's a surprising amount of tension in just four little words.

How does Ward open the book?

Ward opens the book with "Maman died today." Ward mentions that Sartre goes out of his way to point our Meursault's use of the child's word "Maman" when speaking of his mother. Ward believes that "to use the more removed, adult "Mother" is to change the nature of Meursault's curious feeling for her. It is to change his very sensibility."

There is a huge difference between saying my mother and mum, right? It changes the whole thing.

Nina wrote: "There is a huge difference between saying my mother and mum, right? It changes the whole thing."

Exactly.

Just picked up my copy from the library! I'm excited to get into it.

I'm not too far along but I think the last sentence in Chapter 2 is pretty expressive. (I have Ward's translation).

I just finished reading Ward´s translation. I compared a few paragraphs with other editions and, despite my terrible french, it felt the most literal.

How did you like it?

I loved the writing and characterization, but did not like the story itself. A few decisions by the main character felt unnatural, and just plain dumb.

Just finished and think the writing is fantastic. I am puzzled about several things, which I hope to discuss in the group.

As I read this first half of the book, Meursault's isolation and his inability to understand and communicate his emotions reminded me of my son who has Aspergers. I'm not sure that Meursault is able to understand himself. He doesn't seem to want to be isolated from others but doesn't have the skills to communicated clearly.

Another related problem is a condition called sensory processing disorder. One symptom is hypersensitivity to visual input which is characterized by
__ sensitive to bright lights; will squint, cover eyes, cry and/or get headaches from the light
__ has difficulty keeping eyes focused on task/activity he/she is working on for an appropriate amount of time
__ easily distracted by other visual stimuli in the room; i.e., movement, decorations, toys, windows, doorways etc.
__ has difficulty in bright colorful rooms or a dimly lit room
__ rubs his/her eyes, has watery eyes or gets headaches after reading or watching TV
__ avoids eye contact
__ enjoys playing in the dark

This was Meursault's feelings during the funeral procession: "the glare from the sun was unbearable...I felt a little lost between the the blue and white of the sky and monotony of the colors around me. All of it - the sun, the smell of leather and horse dung from the hearse the smell of vanish and incense, and my fatigue after a night without sleep - was making it hard for me to see or think straight."

(view spoiler)[Right before he kills the Arab, he again talks about the light and the sun. "There was the same dazzling red glare." He "strained every nerve in order to overcome the sun." "With every blade of light that flashed off the sand, from a bleached shell or a piece of broken glass, my jaws tightened." "The sun was the same as it had been the day I'd buried Maman..." and "All I could feel were the cymbals of sunlight crashing on my forehead," etc. Last, the only explanation, Meursault could give for the murder was that it happened "because of the sun." (hide spoiler)]

So if Meursault were on trial today for murder, he might use extenuating circumstances to avoid the death penalty.

That's a really interesting post. I did wonder how much of Camus himself is in Meursault. Camus's mother was deaf, and by all accounts wasn't really able or willing to verbally communicate with people. I'm deaf myself, and I know that it can have a profoundly isolating effect on the deaf individual and on their family members.

I was really struck in the scene with the wake and the funeral procession itself by how similar Meursault's thought process was to my own thought processes and experiences when I'm around hearing people. I'm dimly aware that although that kind of thing is normal for me (that is, being hyper aware of what's happening in a location, but not that actively invested in the mysterious and slightly stressful people who populate it), it's not necessarily how hearing (or neurotypical) people tend to go through life.

It's not a stretch for me to imagine that Camus himself was impacted by a lack of closeness and communication that his mother's condition could have created between them. Perhaps Meursault here is a cipher for that distance and its after-effects in the life of the author.

Finally reading one by Camus! Just started, will join the story discussion soon.

Holls wrote: "That's a really interesting post. I did wonder how much of Camus himself is in Meursault. Camus's mother was deaf, and by all accounts wasn't really able or willing to verbally communicate with peo..."

That's an interesting thought! I'll react to it in the second thread.

While I'm not really enjoying the book, the writing is very good. The description of the sun in part 1 is so real and intense, I can almost feel the light and heat myself. I live in one of the sunniest places in the USA (Denver, CO), and I can testify to the fact that too much sun can sometimes drive a person crazy.

The end of part 1 is exceptional writing.