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27th out of 28 books
—
55 voters
Exile and the Kingdom
by
Albert Camus
From a variety of masterfully rendered perspectives, these six stories depict people at painful odds with the world around them. A wife can only surrender to a desert night by betraying her husband. An artist struggles to honor his own aspirations as well as society's expectations of him. A missionary brutally converted to the worship of a tribal fetish is left with but an...more
Paperback, 192 pages
Published
February 13th 2007
by Vintage
(first published January 24th 1949)
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L'Exil et le Royaume et le malaise de l'être.
L'Exil et le Royaume est un recueil de six nouvelles, publié en 1957 (Il n’est pas arrivé très souvent à Camus d’écrire des nouvelles), Succédant à La Chute (1956), cette œuvre serait donc la dernière publiée de son vivant-je préfère toujours plonger dans l'œuvre camusienne selon son ordre chronologique, ça me fournit quelques indications sur l’évolution de l'auteur!
Le recueil est donc composé de six nouvelles: La Femme adultère, Le Renégat ou un espr...more
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Sep 08, 2007
Jim
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Those of us who like to read in between the lines.
Exile and the Kingdom consists of half a dozen short stories. Like Camus’s famous novel, each story deals with an outsider.
The first story presents us with the titular ‘Adulterous Woman’ but nowhere in the story does it suggest that she has – or indeed intends to – be unfaithful to her husband but she does give herself over to a moment, an experience; it is quite a compelling little character study.
The second story, ‘The Renegade’ is the only one I remembered anything of from the first time I r...more
The first story presents us with the titular ‘Adulterous Woman’ but nowhere in the story does it suggest that she has – or indeed intends to – be unfaithful to her husband but she does give herself over to a moment, an experience; it is quite a compelling little character study.
The second story, ‘The Renegade’ is the only one I remembered anything of from the first time I r...more
Dec 18, 2012
Siham
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
français,
albert-camus
LA FEMME ADULTÈRE : 5/5
LE RENÉGAT ou UN ESPRIT CONFUS : 5/5
LES MUETS : 5/5
L'HÔTE : 2/5
JONAS : 4/5
LA PIERRE QUI POUSSE : 3/5
Camus t'es un génie comme d'habitude , mais j'avoue que je ne te comprends pas toujours .
3 likes · like · see review
I like Camus, after my second exposure. This is a collection of short stories, some of which (as always) are a bit better than others. I only give this four stars because I had a little difficulty figuring out how one of the stories fit with the other five. "The Renegade or a Confused Spirit" grated a little for me because it was written in such a different style from the other stories. It felt a little longer than it needed to be to me, but it was compelling nonetheless.
I don't enjoy putting wr...more
I don't enjoy putting wr...more
Jan 08, 2011
Erik Graff
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Camus fans
Recommended to Erik by:
no one
Shelves:
literature
Albert Camus had an immense influence on me during adolescence. This is strange in that nowadays I don't think he would have much impact. At that time, however, I recognized my apprehensions articulated in his voice and in the voices of some of his characters, particularly the doctor in The Plague.
In the sixties one heard about Camus everywhere. My first direct exposure was the typical one: The Stranger was assigned reading for an English class. Intrigued by that and by what I heard from the tea...more
In the sixties one heard about Camus everywhere. My first direct exposure was the typical one: The Stranger was assigned reading for an English class. Intrigued by that and by what I heard from the tea...more
In "An Experiment in Criticism", Lewis argues that the only way to truly understand a book the reader must surrender to it and to the author's vision. This can be fairly easy when the reader and the author are coming from similar worldviews, but not when they are meeting head on from opposite ends of the spectrum. This is the challenge I face when reading Camus. Our worldviews are so different that reading his work is an exhausting experience. It is a constant struggle to surrender to his vision...more
Un super recueil de nouvelles ! Les trois premières sont vraiment géniales, on voit toute l'habileté de Camus à créer des personnages, toujours sous la forme psychologique, avec des émotions très différentes mais qui se ressemblent. J'ai bien aimé aussi le thème du royaume et de l'exil.
Un petit extrait de la première nouvelle (La femme adultère) : "Depuis toujours, sur la terre sèche, raclée jusqu'à l'os, de ce pays démesuré, quelques hommes cheminaient sans trêve, qui ne possédaient rien mais...more
Un petit extrait de la première nouvelle (La femme adultère) : "Depuis toujours, sur la terre sèche, raclée jusqu'à l'os, de ce pays démesuré, quelques hommes cheminaient sans trêve, qui ne possédaient rien mais...more
First, Orhan Pamuk's introduction to this edition is terribly fitting. I can't think of a modern author who could have such a similar living context for Camus' fiction. While a life-long resident of Istanbul, Pamuk is treated like an outsider by his government (at least) though he is as Turkish as much as Camus was French.
What draws all these stories together is a philosphy of both melancholy and fanaticism. Humor would dull the edge of Camus' two major themes, but the book seems to lack an abil...more
What draws all these stories together is a philosphy of both melancholy and fanaticism. Humor would dull the edge of Camus' two major themes, but the book seems to lack an abil...more
I love Camus (The Stranger, The Plague and The Fall, in that order), but this one left me unimpressed. "The Adulterous Woman" felt like a less vivid version of the already-too-depressing The Sheltering Sky, and "The Renegade" was almost incomprehensible. I liked the last four stories more, with "The Guest" and "The Artist at Work" being my favorites, but they were still pretty hollow reading experiences. Granted, the subject matter is as bleak as Camus's worldview, but all of his other fictional...more
So I start reading this book and I’m like “oh this is nice, let me put my Casa Blance lens on.” I am happily reading along, when all of a sudden, I’m like:
wait!
What-the-cluster-fuck?!
How did I get here?
And it is not just the first short story; it all of them! I had to read it once, twice, and then go back and review and try to understand and read between the lines.
So check it, in my opinion, all the stories have to be taken as one ongoing theme: An individual who finds himself displaced in...more
wait!
What-the-cluster-fuck?!
How did I get here?
And it is not just the first short story; it all of them! I had to read it once, twice, and then go back and review and try to understand and read between the lines.
So check it, in my opinion, all the stories have to be taken as one ongoing theme: An individual who finds himself displaced in...more
Camus can write really well, but he can also spend too much time on things. In one story he spent too much time describing surroundings in a way that didn't lend anything to the story that I could see, except it raised my level of discomfort significantly. In another he describes human behavior masterfully and with great humor (I was laughing out loud reading it) but the behavior goes to such an extreme that it becomes pathetic and even crazy. This is the only book I've read by Camus, but if I h...more
I read Camus' "L'exil et le Royaume" during my recuperation from my knee surgery in the waning days of 2008. It is a collection of six short stories translated from the French by Justin O'Brien. Not all seemed to have a common connection in terms of Camus' existentialist point of view. I consider The Adulterous Woman, The Renegade, and the Guest to be the best in order of communicating this point of view whereas the remaining three; The Artist at Work, The Growing Stone, and The Silent Men seeme...more
Albert Camus’s existentialism is sometimes described as having more hope than some of his other contemporaries. One thing is certain, Camus has a way of presenting real life that causes the reader to become AWARE. By aware, I mean aware of where they are while reading Camus; aware of their own vision of life; aware of their individual mindset in relation to Camus. The author has a way of presenting life at its most raw and foundational level. My own mindset caused me to look at how the role of b...more
Two words come to mind as I turn the final pages of this wonderful collection: Breathless, breathtaking. Perhaps they are the same.
There is an animal, elemental intensity at play here as Camus once again cements his position not only as an intellectual giant but also as one of the greatest fiction writers. He melds exotic settings with displaced characters in stories that take your breath away, stories that haunt and linger and leave you clamoring for air like a fish on dry shore. The Renegade,...more
There is an animal, elemental intensity at play here as Camus once again cements his position not only as an intellectual giant but also as one of the greatest fiction writers. He melds exotic settings with displaced characters in stories that take your breath away, stories that haunt and linger and leave you clamoring for air like a fish on dry shore. The Renegade,...more
honestly, it kills me to give anythign by camus only three stars, but three of the six stories were practically worthless. they read like instructions, like cooking instructions "then he did this, then he did that, then this happened". the other three stories were beautiful, the renegade and the adulterous woman especially, so feverish, so longing and wanting. they conveyed the message of the book, fighting against nature and other men and themselves, trying hard to find peace within where it ca...more
My somewhat low rating is owing only to the fact that these are short stories...getting into Camus this way is a little like being woken up from a deep sleep every hour, on the hour; these stories just can't hold the force of his longer works like "The Plague," "The First Man" or even "The Fall."
He's saved his talent (just my opinion) for the final two. In "Jonas, or the Artist at Work," a painter finds himself unable to create once he has fame, friends and generally an abundance of people aroun...more
He's saved his talent (just my opinion) for the final two. In "Jonas, or the Artist at Work," a painter finds himself unable to create once he has fame, friends and generally an abundance of people aroun...more
This book holds its theme very well across a diverse variety of characters and settings, as it declares a universal bond between all those who feel their soul does not fit into the place where it was born. They culminate in the final, cathartic story, The Growing Stone, where one of these lone travelers is at last welcomed home, if only for a moment.
Le Renegat. For me, Le Renegat IS L'exil et le royaume. It's remained stuck in my mind for half a century, the recollection refreshed every so often by another read-through of the story. It fascinates me, and for the greater part of my life I didn't know why I was fascinated. I've now understood why and shall tell you why in this review. It may sound like a stretch, but I assure you that it's indeed the truth, the actuality.
Le Renegat is a story of torture and abasement, of brain-washing and Sto...more
Le Renegat is a story of torture and abasement, of brain-washing and Sto...more
It is absolutely amazing what a fantastic writer Camus was. Each story in the collection was beautifully crafted with vivid depictions and imagery, foreboding tone, and vulnerably corrupted characters. For me, each seemed to start a bit slow but had me entranced by the third or fourth page.
My two favorites were "The Renegade" and "The Artist at Work." In the first, it is literally difficult to read with the depictions of torture, rape, captivity, thirst, and Stockholm syndrome. A truly grueling...more
My two favorites were "The Renegade" and "The Artist at Work." In the first, it is literally difficult to read with the depictions of torture, rape, captivity, thirst, and Stockholm syndrome. A truly grueling...more
I enjoyed Exile and the Kingdom least of all of Camus's works. It consists of 6 short stories rendered as parables, the lessons of which are not always entirely clear -- at least to me. Of the six stories there a few gems that left a lasting impression on me: "The Adulterous Woman" ("La Femme adultère"), "The Guest" ("L'Hôte") and "The Silent Men" ("Les Muets"). If I had to pick a favourite it would be "The Adulterous Woman" for the effortless way Camus managed to convey the compulsions of a wom...more
My two favorite stories were "The Guest" and "The Artist at Work". "The Guest" was a poignant example of doing the right thing even though it was a decision that could very well mean death. And there is no absolute right or wrong here, but it still says a lot to the character of the Arab that he still willingly accepted his punishment. "The Artist at Work" shows the downfall of success and how easy it is to get lost in something and just about forget everything and everyone around you. Time keep...more
In places, these six stories contain some of Camus' more literary writing. Unfortunately, I find that most do not develop much tension or suspense, and even the stories that begin with promise seem to drown in flatness shortly thereafter. The lone exception for me was "The Guest" which does succeed at hammering in some emotional nails into the reader.
It's also interesting to see how various forms of "tribalism" and "paganism" take center stage in several different stories as characters search f...more
It's also interesting to see how various forms of "tribalism" and "paganism" take center stage in several different stories as characters search f...more
The theme for this collection of short-stories, most probably also represents "Life, Liberty, Fraternity" (the motto of France) albeit in a humanistic fashion. The stories all follow the same idea. Leaving what isn't actually providence for our nature. Realizing that our own comfort itself probably alienates others, because humanity itself, naked, untouched by delusion is able what should be felt by the conscious soul. Another great piece by Camus, forever representative of his humility and love...more
This collection of short stories is now my favorite work by Camus, behind only The Plague. Each story is beautifully written and brilliantly concise, where every sentence has weight to it and conveys stirring imagery or deep emotion, as if the author could not spare a single word to excess. The stories vary in subject yet all have the common theme of a protagonist's moral ambivalence when faced with some form of injustice or existential quandary. As one would expect, there is no using Occam's ra...more
Not long before reading this book of short (and a couple not so short) stories, I read a novel (The Stranger) by the same author that wasn't terrible but featured a main character so disconnected from people that I had a hard time feeling connected to him or his story. These stories have quite a different feel from that novel. As a whole, they are more descriptive and observant and involved in the lives they feature, which invites the reader to get involved in these stories and take a personal i...more
Jun 26, 2008
Kirstie
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
fans of fiction, short stories, Camus
Recommended to Kirstie by:
Rory
I haven't read Camus in a long long time and before that, only The Stranger which I think everyone has read. Camus is, of course, an exceptional writer but the strength in this collection is within each story and the variety of each. It's also in the fact that the stories themselves are so unique and memorable that their presence stays with you even when you wish you could leave them behind in a sense (the image of a man without a tongue being tortured for example isn't something I'd like to dre...more
This is one of those books that I will always be reading, so I am changing its status to "read." In fact, I've been encountering enough French lately in my recent readings--David B's Epileptic, and Cummings' French experience in The Enormous Room, that I feel I should study French, too. Unfortunately, I was not encouraged to study French when I was in school; "it isn't very practical,"I was told. Pff! I'm beginning to suspect why it wasn't respected and promoted by so many here in the Midwest--t...more
Aug 08, 2007
William
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Anyone who already read the Stranger or anyone else really
Well, Camus is obviously a good writer (see Noble Prize in Literature 1957). Even still, his style is amazing. I haven't read the French, but, even translated, his language is so clear, almost simple, but it manages to do so much.
Exile is a compilation of a few short stories. The characters in the stories are totally unique (women, men, old, young, Algerian, French, Brazilian, etc) and their stories are varied. However, there are themes and connections that run throughout the book. Of course, C...more
Exile is a compilation of a few short stories. The characters in the stories are totally unique (women, men, old, young, Algerian, French, Brazilian, etc) and their stories are varied. However, there are themes and connections that run throughout the book. Of course, C...more
Definitely the most literary and least philosophical work I've read by Camus. I was blown away by his beautiful descriptive writing and overall mastery of writing, but like his works of pure philosophy it felt like something was missing. Camus will always be a philosophic writer; not a philosopher and not a literary writer. The two are inextricably linked for him and although I found these short stories to be excellent, they are clearly not what made him a world renowned writer.
Mar 18, 2012
Tej
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
all-time-favorites,
in-my-lib
Personaly I love Camus and this flavour of writing. . . The writing, which is for its own sake. . . Pure, artistic and honest. . . Each story is like a painting that etches itself permanently n vividly in one's memory. . . The setting is so important as are the characters with their conscientious n existential struggles, their paradoxes n dilemas, that are too real and near to one's ownself rendering these characters unforgettable. . . The open end is always amenable to one's own interpretation...more
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| Which of Camus' stories is your favorite? | 4 | 25 | Jun 27, 2012 04:50am |
Albert Camus was an Algerian-born French author, philosopher, and journalist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957. He is often cited as a proponent of existentialism (the philosophy that he was associated with during his own lifetime), but Camus himself rejected this particular label. Specifically, his views contributed to the rise of the more current philosophy known as absurdis...more
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“Not a breath, not a sound—except at intervals the muffled crackling of stones that the cold was reducing to sand—disturbed the solitude and silence surrounding Janine. After a moment, however, it seemed to her that the sky above her was moving in a sort of slow gyration. In the vast reaches of the dry, cold night, thousands of stars were constantly appearing, and their sparkling icicles, loosened at once, began to slip gradually towards the horizon. Janine could not tear herself away from contemplating those drifting flares. She was turning with them, and the apparently stationary progress little by little identified her with the core of her being, where cold and desire were now vying with each other. Before her the stars were falling one by one and being snuffed out among the stones of the desert, and each time Janine opened a little more to the night. Breathing deeply, she forgot the cold, the dead weight of others, the craziness or stuffiness of life, the long anguish of living and dying. After so many years of mad, aimless fleeing from fear, she had come to a stop at last. At the same time, she seemed to recover her roots and the sap again rose in her body, which had ceased trembling. Her whole belly pressed against the parapet as she strained towards the moving sky; she was merely waiting for her fluttering heart to calm down and establish silence within her. The last stars of the constellations dropped their clusters a little lower on the desert horizon and became still. Then, with unbearable gentleness, the water of night began to fill Janine, drowned the cold, rose gradually from the hidden core of her being and overflowed in wave after wave, rising up even to her mouth full of moans. The next moment, the whole sky stretched out over her, fallen on her back on the cold earth.”
—
12 people liked it
“every night, when he didn't want to be alone, or to age or die, with that set expression he assumed which she occasionally recognized on other men's faces, the only common expression of those madmen hiding under an appearance of wisdom until the madness seizes them and hurls them desperately toward a woman's body to bury in it, without desire, everything terrifying that solitude and night reveals to them.”
—
5 people liked it
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