interpersonal relationships a la Camus

[LHX]

"That evening, Marie came round for me and asked if I wanted to marry her.

I said I didn't mind and we could do so if she wanted to.

She then wanted to know if I loved her.

I replied as I had done once already, that it didn't mean anything but that I probably didn't.

'Why marry me then?' she said.

I explained to her that it really didn't matter and that if she wanted to, we could get married.

Anyway, she was the one who was asking me and I was simply saying yes.

She then remarked that marriage was a serious matter.

I said, 'No.'

She didn't say anything for a moment and looked at me in silence.

Then she spoke.

She just wanted to know if I'd have accepted the same proposal if it had come from another woman, with whom I had a similar relationship.

I said, 'Naturally.'

She then said she wondered if she loved me and well, I had no idea about that.

After another moment's silence, she mumbled that I was peculiar, that that was probably why she loved me but that one day I might disgust her for the very same reason.

I didn't say anything, having nothing to add, so she smiled and took my arm and announced that she wanted to marry me.

I replied that we'd do so whenever she liked."

-excerpt from The Outsider (Joseph Laredo translation)



-- line-breaks courtesy of your favorite ADD-paragraph-allergic superhero --

[Darth Cupcake]

In a club in Paris I heard a fantastic punk-rock version of The Stranger. The refrain consisted of something along the lines of:

"On a beach
Killed an Arab!
On a beach
Killed an Arab!"

It was in English and I think I was the only person in the club who was following the lyrics. I was giggling. Everyone else was being stoic and gothy.


That was one of my favorite parts of "The Stranger." It's a damned good book, though I've only read it in French.

[LHX]

i check that book out again every once in a while

a quick read and some intense stuff to consider

existentialism at its most flavorful

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Camus is crap.

Unless you are an angsty teenager, of course, in which case the entire field of French existentialism is for you.

[LHX]

Camus may be crap

but he is amongst the cream of the crap


especially if 99.9% of the stuff out there is crap



seemed to be a little more accessible than sartre

but he is no danielle steele

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Camus may be crap

but he is amongst the cream of the crap


especially if 99.9% of the stuff out there is crap

Bush is an idiot.

But he is the cream of the idiots.

I rest my case.

[LMNO]

In a club in Paris I heard a fantastic punk-rock version of The Stranger. The refrain consisted of something along the lines of:

"On a beach
Killed an Arab!
On a beach
Killed an Arab!"

It was in English and I think I was the only person in the club who was following the lyrics. I was giggling. Everyone else was being stoic and gothy.


That was one of my favorite parts of "The Stranger." It's a damned good book, though I've only read it in French.

The Cure.

First album, Boys Don't Cry.

Oddly enough, the song is called "Killing an Arab".

If you asked, most people would probably know the reference.  I would hope.



Standing on the beach
With a gun in my hand
Staring at the sea
Staring at the sand
Staring down the barrel
At the arab on the ground
I can see his open mouth
But I hear no sound

I'm alive
I'm dead
I'm the stranger
Killing an arab

I can turn
And walk away
Or I can fire the gun
Staring at the sky
Staring at the sun
Whichever I chose
It amounts to the same
Absolutely nothing

I'm alive
I'm dead
I'm the stranger
Killing an arab

I feel the steel butt jump
Smooth in my hand
Staring at the sea
Staring at the sand
Staring at myself
Reflected in the eyes
Of the dead man on the beach
The dead man on the beach

I'm alive
I'm dead
I'm the stranger
Killing an arab


Unless, of course, there's another song like this...

[Darth Cupcake]

Niiiiice. Thank you, LMNO.


TGRR, Camus is kind of existentially whiny, if you will. But he is a hell of good writer. I have only read "The Stranger" and "The Fall," but I have enjoyed both. I wouldn't necessarily consider them to be philosophies to base your life on, but there are nuggets of good stuff in both of them, as well as a good read. They're also short enough to be good for carrying to somewhere that there will be a wait, but without having to carry a big heavy obnoxious book.

Of course, I tend to enjoy existential writing in general because I think it makes for a good read and often a fistful of dark-humor-lulz. "Waiting For Godot" is one of my favorite pieces of drama.

[Cramulus]

I've only read the Stranger and the Myth of Sisyphus, but enjoyed both.

[Slarti]

interestingly enough, i just read the stranger last week based on the recommendation of a random drunk i met at the beach. it was a fantastic read and i just got some more camus today... The Myth of Sisyphus and The Fall. i started reading through The Myth of Sisyphus but i was half falling asleep and didn't reallize that i went about 30 pages reading with absolutely no comprehension of what he was saying, i'm having a hard time getting through it for some reason.

[Torodung]

Damn. That brings back some memories. Camus changed my life. I was an angsty teenager at the time. The college prof teaching our "gifted" class about "The Stranger," first thing he does is start playing that song by The Cure. First time I ever heard them.

Then he starts criticizing THE SONG.

I take fastidious notes. They go like this:

KILL ME KILL ME KILL ME KILL ME KILL ME KILL ME KILL ME KILL ME KILL ME KILL ME KILL ME KILL ME KILL ME KILL ME KILL ME KILL ME KILL ME KILL ME KILL ME KILL ME KILL ME KILL ME KILL ME KILL ME NOW.

I fell asleep while watching Beckett's "Endgame" the next week, but I was hooked. Oh hell. If the whole damned thing actually has no meaning, that means I'm not being punished.

It was a revelation. It was liberation. It changed my life.

[Cain]

Camus was crap at fiction, there is no doubt.

I've read a few of his, and while he can do short stories really well, he is no Franz Kafka.

That said, his non-fiction stuff is pretty excellent, especially when you consider the sort of shitty climate France was in at the time (with over-wordy morons like Satre praising the Soviet Union, or overtly militaristic pricks getting excited over Algeria, with little middle ground).  The Rebel and his notebooks are both well worth reading, as well as being morally defensible philosophical positions, his opposition to suicide nonwithstanding.

[nurbldoff]

I liked the stranger.

That is all. Good night.