Exile and the Kingdom

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Vintage International's 1991 reissue of Justin O'Brien's translation of Exile and the Kingdom.
Vintage International's 1991 reissue of Justin O'Brien's translation of Exile and the Kingdom.

Exile and the Kingdom (L'Exil et le royaume) is a 1957 collection of six short stories by French-Algerian writer Albert Camus.

These works of fiction cover the whole variety of existentialism, or absurdism, as Camus himself insisted his philosophical ideas be called. The clearest manifestation of the ideals of Camus can be found in the story "La Pierre qui pousse." This story features D'Arrast, who can be seen as a positive hero as opposed to Meursault in The Stranger. He actively shapes his life and sacrifices himself in order to help a friend, instead of remaining passive. The moral quality of his actions is intensified by the fact that D'Arrast has deep insight into the absurdity of the world but acts morally nevertheless (not unlike the main character in "La Peste").

The six works collected in this volume are:

This short story-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Languages