Jay Dwivedi

As part of my France Discovery Project, I somehow ended up re-reading The Stranger by Albert Camus, and I liked it so much that I also read A Happy Death, and The Fall.  While I am getting a taste of French philosophy, I have to admit that I need to balance it with French films and music.  No regrets, though.  Reading so much of Camus is helping me pursue another passion of mine: Existentialism, for which I may have finally found the time.

Unlike his other books that I have read, if you had never heard of Camus or known that he was more of a philosopher than a writer, you would find that the book reads almost like a narration of the history of a medical crisis in Oran, Algeria.  A book that would be required reading for medical or public safety officials.  On the surface, there are no obvious philosophical messages and the novel merely documents events during a very difficult time for a small town.

Nothing that Camus writes is ever so simple, though.  Obviously, you will need to draw your own conclusions, but the book is a classic read for anyone who is interested in existential philosophy.  What you will read between the lines is what happens to a society after a transformational event (I suggest you think about how we Americans have all changed a bit after 9/11).