Which edition/translation of this should I get? I've heard

On the topic of Camus how would fans of his rank The Plague versus his more noteworthy works... Asking b/c I have heard so much good about Camus but while reading the plague I was utterly bored and felt like I was forcing myself through it for some pay off that couldn't possibly be worth the drawl... I put it down but recently got a copy of OP's book.

>>8603809
>>8603787
Long and short of it, OP, I would not recommend The Plague. Although I am interested to know what well read fans of Camus' have to say about it.
Hope you don't mind I butted in a bit on your post.

That's the only English translation I've ever seen.

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>>8603826
Are you sure?
I mean there are many 5 star reviews, but some of the one star ones say stuff like

>I don't understand how it gets five star ratings. It seems Google translated this writing. I tried very hard but gave up.
>I haven't finished the book but this edition is riddled with typos and formatting errors. Most consistently b's and h's are used interchangeably. Buy a better edition of this book.
>Ridiculously small letters. DON'T BUY IT. It's just plain offensive. Of course, the review has nothing to do with contents.
>Not Camus' essay, This printed version! No page numbers, No table of essays, no index. Full of typos that will never be corrected since they can't be referenced by page number or anything else. Worthless edition, get a different one. (I ordered a different edition, but received this.)

>I guess I got what I paid for, the cover image is low quality and the formatting of the text inside is kind of awkward even though I dont really mind. What got me was the translation, it's weird and has a lot of typos and its almost like a literal translation, it's unreadable for me. The syntax is off.

So now I don't know what to think.
Is this edition any different then? It's the same translation but Penguin instead of Vintage.

>>8603787
there's an older english translation that's better but you'll only find it at uni libraries. that edition is fine tho. good book

>>8603787
>fluent in english
>can't read french

wtf is wrong with you? Spend 30 minutes on duolingo and then just read the french original you idiot. I understand reading translations when the language is different, but french and English are pretty much the same.

>>8603787
Hi. I'm the obligatory french shitposter of this thread. By this fine day, I want to remind you all that translations are trash! Stick to the english stuff! :^)
Take care!
-- Native french speaker.

>>8603787
>Also any other Camus books that are highly recommended? I'm entry level /lit/ and I've only read The Stranger so far.

the plague

>>8604539

lol

>>8604562

plague is good but it sucks my soul out after knowing how beautiful the prose is in the stranger, then he makes it feel like you're actually in there with them, awful.

>>8603787
Don't get any penguin edition of his books.

>>8604926
Why?

>>8606223
They edited stuff out.

>>8604539
Kek.

Bump/please respond

>>8604539
What time and energy does it take to be able to read in French (not speaking, just understanding written text)? How would one go about such a thing?

>>8607238
Just literally pick up a french book and read it. If you are native in english you'll understand most sentences without knowing a damn thing.

You can pick up all the little tricks and quirks as you go.

>>8603787
Is Camus the most optimistic pessimist to exist?

>>8607245
I know you're being a slight ass, but I learnt spanish for one year, and can read most things - like cheap red wine labels - based on context and intuition pretty well, even if I know about three words in the sentence. But I'm dyslexic and basically had to learn how to do that with English as well.

>>8604539
sacre bleu

>>8603809
The Plague is his realest piece. He puts his and other important philosophies into World War Two. After the climax of the story the characters begin to symbolize important existential philosophers, with Panaloux giving a sermon which is a variation on Kierkegaard in Fear and Trembling, Grand seems to symbolize Enlightenment philosophy and Tarrou seems to represent a vaguely Nietzschean commitment to living by one's own values.

It's definitely a slow burner, but it gets better as you read Camus, his influences, and the history of France during ww2.

>>8607245
Yea actually the stranger is a great first book to do this with as the main character speaks in a curt, simple way when he doesn't give a shit about something.

>>8607493
>this
The human reaction to the plague is the main theme of the book, though I could see how this would be missed without knowledge of Camus' philosophy.
The characters are quite diverse in goals/professions/outlooks, and he uses the plague (which is an allegory for the Nazi occupation of France) to test them.
His interest with how we react to meaningless suffering (a mindless plague, a foreign invasion, the impossibility of certainty etc) is a main theme in "The Myth of Sisyphus" and runs through his whole philosophy. He likes to explore how we react to an absurdity of existence, and his justification for labeling the world absurd and the way we must deal with it is also detailed in "The Myth of Sisyphus"

tl;dr His absurdist philosophy, expressed in the Myth of Sisyphus is key to understanding his other works.