The Outsider [Stranger]
by Camus, Albert
- Used
- near fine
- first
- Condition
- Near Fine/Near Fine
- Seller
-
Pasadena, California, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Camus' groundbreaking debut, first published in France in 1942, positioned him as one of Europe's most influential existentialist thinkers (though Camus himself would resist that label). Written in the lead up to the Nazi invasion, The Outsider follows the protagonist Meursault, a French Algerian, as he learns of his mother's death, commits a murder the same day, and is ultimately sentenced to death. Throughout the experience, Meursault eschews all of the expected human emotions; he is detached from bourgeois feelings, focusing instead on the absolute absurdity of life. Before Camus was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957, becoming the first African-born laureate, he explained that the novel was inspired by "a remark I admit was highly paradoxical: 'In our society, a man who does not weep at his funeral runs the risk of being sentenced to death.'...the hero of my book is condemned because he does not play the game" (Carroll). A foundational and brilliant part of the modern literary-philosophical canon. Near Fine in Near Fine dust jacket.
Synopsis
Published in 1942, The Outsider was Camus' first novel. The main character is Meursault, who holds no real opinion, nor does anything seem to effect him. From the dark horizon of my future a sort of slow, persistent breeze had been blowing toward me, all my life long, from the years that were to come. and on its way that breeze had leveled out all the ideas that people tried to foist on me in the equally unreal years i then was living through."
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Details
- Bookseller
- Whitmore Rare Books (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 6100
- Title
- The Outsider [Stranger]
- Author
- Camus, Albert
- Book Condition
- Used - Near Fine
- Jacket Condition
- Near Fine
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First English language edition
- Publisher
- Hamish Hamilton
- Place of Publication
- London
- Date Published
- 1946
- Keywords
- Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday; I can't be sure.
Terms of Sale
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About the Seller
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About Whitmore Rare Books
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Text Block
- Most simply the inside pages of a book. More precisely, the block of paper formed by the cut and stacked pages of a book....
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...