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/lit/ - Literature

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3842904 No.3842904 [Reply] [Original]

Rank the Camus novels you've read.
1) The Plague
2) The Stranger
3) The Fall

>> No.3842915

Why?

Do you actually care about my opinion?

>> No.3842919

>>3842915
I'm interested to see where others stand.

>> No.3842937

>>3842919
Why? I'm not being petulant, I'm genuinely curious

>> No.3842940

>>3842904
The Fall is greater than The Stranger by far.

>> No.3842948

I've only read the Stranger and the Myth of Sisyphus.

The Stranger was life-changing for me at the time, but now I have very little interest in re-reading it. Myth is very fun.

What are the differences between the Plague and the Fall, thematically? I feel like reading one of them now that I see the thread.

>> No.3843362

bump

>> No.3843375

1) The Stranger
2) The Fall (didn't finish, got halfway through then quit)
3) The Plague (didn't finish, got 70 pages in and then quit)

>> No.3843432

the rebel is #1 fags
then myth, then plague.
the stranger is good if you're in high school/ not familiar with camus. the fall kinda sucks

>> No.3843448

How ironic. I just finished The Plague this morning. I have The Fall, but it's rather deep in my queue.

1.) The Stranger
2.) The Plague

>> No.3843464

why?

why isn't this a thread about camus' ideas instead?

>/lit/

>> No.3843466

>>3843375
you didn't enjoy those two or did you have to quit for a different reason?

>>3842904
>>3843448
I've just read The Plague and was thinking on going on with The Stranger, so: Why did you find one better than the other, what are the merits?

>> No.3843467

>>3842904
monsieur, your thread is shit and i hope your house gets demolished

#nihilismeetexistentialismesucer

>> No.3843489

I'll have to put The Stranger at #1 just because I haven't read anything else yet. I'm picking up Myth of Sisyphus from the library tomorrow though.

>> No.3843499

>>3843466
The Stranger has a distinct literary style that mirrors the protagonist and his characteristics. Unless he is discussing some sensory or empirical fact of the world (the sun is hot, the woman is soft), it's understated to the extreme. The novel reads more like a chain of unrelated events where each sentence briefly lives and then dies when the next is read. It really adds to the isolation M. Meursault experiences and contributes to Camus' theme.

The Plague is written as a chronicle by Rieux who is endeavoring the capture the life during the plague after the quarantine is over. Its objectivity felt to me like an unwelcome restraint, though again this method keeps with the absurdist theme.

>> No.3843523

>>3843499
I see, thanks for the clear insight. I think the fact that I had recently read Journal of The Plague Year really made The Plague very enjoyable. Both styles are chronicled but Defoe has more emotionally distant from the people he describes and morally closer, talking about virtues, about the divine reasons of the plague, etc. In contrast, Camus seems to get a lot closer emotionally and without judging them morally at all. The chronicle style in him is also softer since Defoe had numbers to go with it but I think that's superficial. I definitely recommend you Defoe's book if only for the sake of contrasting two books that take place in broadly the same kind of setting

>> No.3843531

>>3843523
>is more emotionally

>> No.3843537

>>3843523
Thanks for the recommendation. Rieux claims at least twice that he is being completely objective and describing emotions only when needed in the narrative, but he weaves those strands in despite himself. Your recommendation could make an excellent contrast. Thanks again.

>> No.3844221

>>3843537
Yes, he's not openly emphatic. I only mean that he deals much more deeply in peoples emotions and thus considers their acts in an understanding light with no moral judgement. Trust me, you'll enjoy the comparison once you have read The Journal

>> No.3844777

>The Stranger
>Myth of Sisyphus
>The Plague
>Every other essay by Camus

>> No.3844784

>The Plague
>The Myth of Sisyphus
>The Stranger
>The Rebel
>Exile and the Kingdom
>The Fall

>> No.3844791

IMO Sisyphus doesn't get enough credit.

>> No.3844795

The Stranger takes some heat for being so popular, but it really is beautifully written (in any decent English translation). I read it about once a year, and it is rewarding each time. Everyone should read The Myth of Sisyphus after reading The Stranger.

The Plague was much tougher for me to finish. I didn't power through it until my third attempt, but I was very happy that I did. Certain scenes in that book blow me away (the sermon being one of them).

I haven't read The Fall, but I've read Exile and the Kingdom, a collection of his short stories. It was good, but not great.

>> No.3844801

Nabokov on Camus:

"Dislike him. Second-rate, ephemeral, puffed-up. A nonentity, means absolutely nothing to me. Awful."

>> No.3844819

>>3844801
Nabokov also didn't like Dostoyevsky. He's a good writer but that doesn't mean his opinion means dick.

Getting on topic, I like The Fall the best. It has an odd style but it had a more profound effect on me than his other works, which are great as well. The Stranger has that brilliant final monologue and The Plague has some pretty bro characters. Also that story in Exile and the Kingdom about the criminal and choosing whether or not to turn himself in was top tier.

>> No.3844821

>>3844801
it's an entertaining quote but it's also important to keep in mind that Nabokov was totally fucking nutbags