Jay Dwivedi

In an effort to learn more about existentialism, I have read The Plague, A Happy Death, The Fall and The Stranger.  This is a book with six short stories and each one of them has one or more ideas of Camus’ philosophies.  The stories are fairly simple and easy to follow, but to get to the bottom of the thinking behind them, one needs to reflect a lot, because Camus makes no reference to any of his ideas.  That is why it is helpful to have read a few of his other books and/or done some research on Camus and other existentialists like Soren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Jean-Paul Sartre.

The Adulterous Woman

In this story, Janine and Marcel maybe married but passion has gone out of their marriage.  During a bus trip in Algeria, she is tempted by a young French soldier, and when she gets even more frustrated, she literally commits adultery with the beautiful starlit sky when her husband is asleep.

The Renegade or a Confused Spirit

Really confusing and disorienting story, especially if you are not an expert in some Catholic rituals.  Be patient and you might be able to see that the story describes how people faith view the world through a different lens.

The Silent Men

One of the common messages in Camus’ writings is the effort it takes to live and how much energy is taken away in accomplishing that.  Yvars is a blue collar worker who realizes that it is not just him but almost everyone around him living with that dilemma.

The Guest

This is probably the most beautiful story in this collection and my favorite.  Daru is a schoolteacher in a remote part of France and when he is asked to deliver an Arab prisoner to the police station, he refuses to do so.  Instead he treats the accused criminal well and then tells the prisoner how to go to the police station and how to escape, leaving the decision to the prisoner.  Surprisingly, the Arab chooses to go the police on his own, because Camus wanted to drive home the point that death is inevitable and once we accept that truth, we can then enjoy living.

Jonas or the Artist at Work

This is another charming story.  Jonas struggles with fame once he is discovered and gains a celebrity status in the art world.  His celebrity status becomes such a distraction that he has a hard time doing what brought him fame in the first place.  Eventually he becomes so dysfunctional that he simply cannot do any painting at all.  The story shows how our lives get complicated by success and how we lose focus after achieving our goals.

The Growing Stone

It is one of those few instances in which Camus ventures out of Algeria and this story is based in Brazil.  This is the story of d’Arrast, a French engineer who is asked to build an embankment in Iguape.  He observes many different types of personalities in a foreign land and realizes the humanism of its characters.