Exile and The Kingdom

Exile and the Kingdom (L'Exil et le royaume) is a 1957 collection of six short stories by French-Algerian writer Albert Camus.

These works of fiction cover the whole variety of existentialism, or absurdism, as Camus himself insisted his philosophical ideas be called. The clearest manifestation of the ideals of Camus can be found in the story "La Pierre qui pousse." This story features D'Arrast, who can be seen as a positive hero as opposed to Meursault in The Stranger. He actively shapes his life and sacrifices himself in order to help a friend, instead of remaining passive. The moral quality of his actions is intensified by the fact that D'Arrast has deep insight into the absurdity of the world but acts morally nevertheless (not unlike the main character in The Plague).

The six works collected in this volume are:

  • "The Adulterous Woman" ("La Femme adultère")
  • "The Renegade or a Confused Spirit" ("Le Renégat ou un esprit confus")
  • "The Silent Men" ("Les Muets")
  • "The Guest" ("L'Hôte")
  • "Jonas or the Artist at Work" ("Jonas ou l’artiste au travail")
  • "The Growing Stone" ("La Pierre qui pousse")
Works by Albert Camus
Novels
  • The Stranger
  • The Plague
  • The Fall
  • A Happy Death
  • The First Man
Short stories
  • Exile and the Kingdom
    • "The Adulterous Woman"
    • "The Renegade"
    • "The Silent Men"
    • "The Guest"
    • "The Artist at Work"
    • "The Growing Stone"
Plays
  • Caligula
  • The Misunderstanding
  • The State of Siege
  • The Just Assassins
  • The Possessed
Essays
  • The Myth of Sisyphus
  • The Rebel
  • "Reflections on the Guillotine"
  • Resistance, Rebellion, and Death
Non-fiction
  • Betwixt and Between
  • Neither Victims Nor Executioners
  • Notebooks 1935–1942
  • Notebooks 1943–1951
  • Nuptials


Famous quotes containing the words exile and/or kingdom:

    “The exile is a singular, whereas refugees tend to be thought of in the mass. Armenian refugees, Jewish refugees, refugees from Franco Spain. But a political leader or artistic figure is an exile. Thomas Mann yesterday, Theodorakis today. Exile is the noble and dignified term, while a refugee is more hapless.... What is implied in these nuances of social standing is the respect we pay to choice. The exile appears to have made a decision, while the refugee is the very image of helplessness.”
    —Mary McCarthy (1912–1989)

    “I was a child and she was a child,
    In this kingdom by the sea;
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    I and my Annabel Lee.”
    —Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1845)