Introduction & Overview of The Guest by Albert Camus

The Guest Introduction

Perhaps the best known and most popular of Camus's short stories, "L'Hote" ("The Guest") was published in 1957 in his first and only story collection, L'exil et le royaume (1957; Exile and the Kingdom).

Exile and the Kingdom received a mixed reception from critics. Some saw the collection as revitalizing his career and laying the groundwork for future works after the writer had gone for several years without publishing. Others found that it did not live up to expectations. Many felt that there was an unresolved tension between the stories as fiction and as explorations of philosophical ideas. Evoking numerous and sometimes contradictory interpretations, "The Guest" has endured as one of Camus's more important works, with recent critics delving more deeply into the colonial context of the story. It remains a compelling exploration of Camus's moral and philosophical themes and a powerful evocation of colonial relationships. Camus worked on...
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