{"product_id":"looking-for-the-stranger-albert-camus-and-the-life-of-a-literary-classic-paperback","title":"Looking for the Stranger: Albert Camus and the Life of a Literary Classic - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eAlice Kaplan\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Stranger\u003c\/i\u003e is a rite of passage for readers around the world. Since its publication in France in 1942, Camus's novel has been translated into sixty languages and sold more than six million copies. It's the rare novel that's as at likely to be found in a teen's backpack as in a graduate philosophy seminar. If the twentieth century produced a novel that could be called ubiquitous, \u003ci\u003eThe Stranger\u003c\/i\u003e is it. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e How did a young man in his twenties who had never written a novel turn out a masterpiece that still grips readers more than seventy years later? With \u003ci\u003eLooking for \"The Stranger\"\u003c\/i\u003e, Alice Kaplan tells that story. In the process, she reveals Camus's achievement to have been even more impressive--and more unlikely--than even his most devoted readers knew. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Born in poverty in colonial Algeria, Camus started out as a journalist covering the criminal courts. The murder trials he attended, Kaplan shows, would be a major influence on the development and themes of \u003ci\u003eThe Stranger\u003c\/i\u003e. She follows Camus to France, and, making deft use of his diaries and letters, re-creates his lonely struggle with the novel in Montmartre, where he finally hit upon the unforgettable first-person voice that enabled him to break through and complete \u003ci\u003eThe Stranger\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Even then, the book's publication was far from certain. France was straining under German occupation, Camus's closest mentor was unsure of the book's merit, and Camus himself was suffering from near-fatal tuberculosis. Yet the book did appear, thanks in part to a resourceful publisher, Gaston Gallimard, who was undeterred by paper shortages and Nazi censorship. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e The initial critical reception of \u003ci\u003eThe Stranger \u003c\/i\u003ewas mixed, and it wasn't until after liberation that \u003ci\u003eThe Stranger\u003c\/i\u003e began its meteoric rise. As France and the rest of the world began to move out of the shadow of war, Kaplan shows, Camus's book-- with the help of an aggressive marketing campaign by Knopf for their 1946 publication of the first English translation--became a critical and commercial success, and Camus found himself one of the most famous writers in the world. Suddenly, his seemingly modest tale of alienation was being seen for what it really was: a powerful parable of the absurd, an existentialist masterpiece. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Few books inspire devotion and excitement the way \u003ci\u003eThe Stranger\u003c\/i\u003e does. And it couldn't have a better biographer than Alice Kaplan, whose books about twentieth-century French culture and history have won her legions of fans. No reader of Camus will want to miss this brilliant exploration. \u003cbr\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAlice Kaplan\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of numerous books, including \u003ci\u003eDreaming in French\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Interpreter, French Lessons\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe Collaborator\u003c\/i\u003e, the last of which was a finalist for the National Book Award. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 304\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.7 x 8.9 x 6 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e April 04, 2018\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51754044195104,"sku":"9780226565361","price":22.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0974\/9764\/5344\/files\/160c2544cd61590e0345bf36466f841a.webp?v=1780032211","url":"https:\/\/ebocreations.com\/products\/looking-for-the-stranger-albert-camus-and-the-life-of-a-literary-classic-paperback","provider":"The E-Book Oasis LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}