The Plague, The Fall, Exile and the Kingdom, and Selected Essays

Introduction by David Bellos

Introduction by David Bellos
Look inside
From one of the most brilliant and influential thinkers of the twentieth century and a Nobel Prize-winning author: two novels, six short stories, and a pair of essays in a single volume that deploy his lyric eloquence in defense against despair.

In both his essays and his fiction, Albert Camus (1913—1960) provides an affirmation of the brave assertion of humanity in the face of a universe devoid of order or meaning.
 
The Plague—written in 1947 and still profoundly relevant—is a riveting tale of horror, survival, and resilience in the face of a devastating epidemic. The Fall (1956), which takes the form of an astonishing confession by a French lawyer in a seedy Amsterdam bar, is a haunting parable of modern conscience in the face of evil. The six stories of Exile and the Kingdom (1957) represent Camus at the height of his narrative powers, masterfully depicting his characters—from a renegade missionary to an adulterous wife—at decisive moments of revelation. Set beside their fictional counterparts, Camus’s famous essays “The Myth of Sisyphus” and “Reflections on the Guillotine” are all the more powerful and philosophically daring, confirming his towering place in twentieth-century thought.
  • WINNER | 1957
    Nobel Prize
Praise for Georges Simenon:

“One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequaled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories.” —The Guardian

“These Maigret books are as timeless as Paris itself.” —The Washington Post

“The matchless French crime novelist.” —Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker

“Maigret ranks with Holmes and Poirot in the pantheon of fictional detective immortals.” —People

“I love reading Simenon. He makes me think of Chekhov.” —William Faulkner

“An astute observer of human nature, writing in a spare and vivid style.” —Amor Towles

“I never read contemporary fiction–with one exception: the works of Simenon.” —T.S. Eliot

“A writer as comfortable with reality as with fiction, with passion as with reason.” —John Le Carré

“One of the most important writers of our century.” —Gabriel García Márquez

“A favorite writer of mine.” —Sigrid Nunez

“A great writer of detail, of atmosphere.” —Leïla Slimani

“Feels incredibly modern…A great writer.” —Ian Rankin

“The greatest of all, the most genuine novelist we have had in literature.” —André Gide

“A supreme writer . . . Unforgettable vividness.” —The Independent (London)

“Superb . . . The most addictive of writers . . . A unique teller of tales.” —The Observer (London)

“Compelling, remorseless, brilliant.” —John Gray

“A truly wonderful writer . . . Marvelously readable—lucid, simple, absolutely in tune with the world he creates.” —Muriel Spark

“A novelist who entered his fictional world as if he were a part of it.” —Peter Ackroyd

“Extraordinary masterpieces of the twentieth century.” —John Banville

"Gem-hard soul-probes . . . not just the world's bestselling detective series, but an imperishable literary legend . . . he exposes secrets and crimes not by forensic wizardry, but by the melded powers of therapist, philosopher and confessor" ―Times (London)

"Strangely comforting . . . so many lovely bistros from the Paris of mid-20th C. The corpses are incidental, it's the food that counts." ―Margaret Atwood

"One of the greatest writers of the 20th century . . . no other writer can set up a scene as sharply and with such economy as Simenon does . . . the conjuring of a world, a place, a time, a set of characters - above all, an atmosphere." ―Financial Times

"Gripping . . . richly rewarding . . . You'll quickly find yourself obsessing about his life as you tackle each mystery in turn." ―Stig Abell, The Sunday Times (London)
Born in Algeria in 1913, ALBERT CAMUS published The Stranger--now one of the most widely read novels of this century--in 1942. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1957. On January 4, 1960, he was killed in a car accident. LAURA MARRIS is a writer and translator. Her book-length translations include Louis Guilloux's novel Blood Dark, which was short-listed for the 2018 Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize. Her translation of Jean-Yves Frétigné's biography of Gramsci is forthcoming from the University of Chicago Press in 2021. She teaches creative writing at the University at Buffalo. View titles by Albert Camus

Introduction 

Select Bibliography 

Chronology

 

THE PLAGUE 

THE FALL 

EXILE AND THE KINGDOM 

THE MYTH OF SISYPHUS 

REFLECTIONS ON THE GUILLOTINE 

About

From one of the most brilliant and influential thinkers of the twentieth century and a Nobel Prize-winning author: two novels, six short stories, and a pair of essays in a single volume that deploy his lyric eloquence in defense against despair.

In both his essays and his fiction, Albert Camus (1913—1960) provides an affirmation of the brave assertion of humanity in the face of a universe devoid of order or meaning.
 
The Plague—written in 1947 and still profoundly relevant—is a riveting tale of horror, survival, and resilience in the face of a devastating epidemic. The Fall (1956), which takes the form of an astonishing confession by a French lawyer in a seedy Amsterdam bar, is a haunting parable of modern conscience in the face of evil. The six stories of Exile and the Kingdom (1957) represent Camus at the height of his narrative powers, masterfully depicting his characters—from a renegade missionary to an adulterous wife—at decisive moments of revelation. Set beside their fictional counterparts, Camus’s famous essays “The Myth of Sisyphus” and “Reflections on the Guillotine” are all the more powerful and philosophically daring, confirming his towering place in twentieth-century thought.

Awards

  • WINNER | 1957
    Nobel Prize

Reviews

Praise for Georges Simenon:

“One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequaled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories.” —The Guardian

“These Maigret books are as timeless as Paris itself.” —The Washington Post

“The matchless French crime novelist.” —Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker

“Maigret ranks with Holmes and Poirot in the pantheon of fictional detective immortals.” —People

“I love reading Simenon. He makes me think of Chekhov.” —William Faulkner

“An astute observer of human nature, writing in a spare and vivid style.” —Amor Towles

“I never read contemporary fiction–with one exception: the works of Simenon.” —T.S. Eliot

“A writer as comfortable with reality as with fiction, with passion as with reason.” —John Le Carré

“One of the most important writers of our century.” —Gabriel García Márquez

“A favorite writer of mine.” —Sigrid Nunez

“A great writer of detail, of atmosphere.” —Leïla Slimani

“Feels incredibly modern…A great writer.” —Ian Rankin

“The greatest of all, the most genuine novelist we have had in literature.” —André Gide

“A supreme writer . . . Unforgettable vividness.” —The Independent (London)

“Superb . . . The most addictive of writers . . . A unique teller of tales.” —The Observer (London)

“Compelling, remorseless, brilliant.” —John Gray

“A truly wonderful writer . . . Marvelously readable—lucid, simple, absolutely in tune with the world he creates.” —Muriel Spark

“A novelist who entered his fictional world as if he were a part of it.” —Peter Ackroyd

“Extraordinary masterpieces of the twentieth century.” —John Banville

"Gem-hard soul-probes . . . not just the world's bestselling detective series, but an imperishable literary legend . . . he exposes secrets and crimes not by forensic wizardry, but by the melded powers of therapist, philosopher and confessor" ―Times (London)

"Strangely comforting . . . so many lovely bistros from the Paris of mid-20th C. The corpses are incidental, it's the food that counts." ―Margaret Atwood

"One of the greatest writers of the 20th century . . . no other writer can set up a scene as sharply and with such economy as Simenon does . . . the conjuring of a world, a place, a time, a set of characters - above all, an atmosphere." ―Financial Times

"Gripping . . . richly rewarding . . . You'll quickly find yourself obsessing about his life as you tackle each mystery in turn." ―Stig Abell, The Sunday Times (London)

Author

Born in Algeria in 1913, ALBERT CAMUS published The Stranger--now one of the most widely read novels of this century--in 1942. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1957. On January 4, 1960, he was killed in a car accident. LAURA MARRIS is a writer and translator. Her book-length translations include Louis Guilloux's novel Blood Dark, which was short-listed for the 2018 Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize. Her translation of Jean-Yves Frétigné's biography of Gramsci is forthcoming from the University of Chicago Press in 2021. She teaches creative writing at the University at Buffalo. View titles by Albert Camus

Table of Contents

Introduction 

Select Bibliography 

Chronology

 

THE PLAGUE 

THE FALL 

EXILE AND THE KINGDOM 

THE MYTH OF SISYPHUS 

REFLECTIONS ON THE GUILLOTINE