Exile and the Kingdom (L'Exil et le royaume) is a 1957 collection of six short stories by French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

-Algeria

Algeria

Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...

n writer Albert Camus

Albert Camus

Albert Camus was a French author, journalist, and key philosopher of the 20th century. In 1949, Camus founded the Group for International Liaisons within the Revolutionary Union Movement, which was opposed to some tendencies of the Surrealist movement of André Breton.Camus was awarded the 1957...

.

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

The Stranger (novel)

The Stranger or The Outsider is a novel by Albert Camus published in 1942. Its theme and outlook are often cited as examples of existentialism, though Camus did not consider himself an existentialist; in fact, its content explores various philosophical schools of thought, including absurdism, as...

. 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 Plague

The Plague is a novel by Albert Camus, published in 1947, that tells the story of medical workers finding solidarity in their labour as the Algerian city of Oran is swept by a plague. It asks a number of questions relating to the nature of destiny and the human condition...

).

The six works collected in this volume are:

• "The Adulterous Woman
  The Adulterous Woman
  "The Adulterous Woman" is a short story written in 1957. It is the first short story published in the volume Exile and the Kingdom by Albert Camus.-Characters:...
  
  " ("La Femme adultère")
• "The Renegade or a Confused Spirit
  The Renegade (Camus short story)
  "The Renegade" is a short story written in 1957. It is the second short story published in the volume Exile and the Kingdom by Albert Camus.-Plot summary:...
  
  " ("Le Renégat ou un esprit confus")
• "The Silent Men
  The Silent Men
  "The Silent Men" is a short story written in 1957. It is the third short story published in the volume Exile and the Kingdom by Albert Camus.-The Common Fate:...
  
  " ("Les Muets")
• "The Guest
  The Guest
  "The Guest" is a short story by the French writer Albert Camus. It was first published in 1957 as part of a collection entitled Exile and the Kingdom . The French title "L'Hôte" translates into both "the guest" and "the host" which ties back to the relationship between the main characters of the...
  
  " ("L'Hôte")
• "Jonas or the Artist at Work
  The Artist at Work
  "The Artist at Work" is a short story by the French writer Albert Camus from Exile and the Kingdom .- Synopsis :...
  
  " ("Jonas ou l’artiste au travail")
• "The Growing Stone
  The Growing Stone
  "The Growing Stone" is a short story by the French writer Albert Camus. It is the final short story in the collection Exile and the Kingdom.-Plot summary:...
  
  " ("La Pierre qui pousse")