Firstly, check out this article about translating Albert Camus’ alienated classic, The Stranger. I’ll wait.

Done? Good.

I remember very clearly back in 1992 when I was in high school, my friend Matt telling me about the new, Matthew Ward translation. Part of what he told me was about how Ward was trying to capture the colloquial, ‘American’ style that he believed Camus was aiming for. And then he told me about the line.

On a purely nostalgic level, Mother died yesterday cannot be beat for it cultural cachet, which, of course, made Ward’s change so massive.  It felt like editing It was the best of times, it was the worst of times (though I should add, that book was among Dickens’ worst and there’s no good reason for people who aren’t Dickens completists to just skip over it).

We were all would-be existentialists at that age (and would-be communists, anarchists, and beatniks, as well, never mind the contradictions because we were teenagers) and Camus had a powerful hold on the imagination, especially with those iconic photos of him at his Humphrey Bogart-esque best with the dark overcoat, half smoked cigarette, and weary/sexy face (yeah, I’m heterosexual, but you can’t tell me Camus wasn’t a sexy man – http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/backissues/camus.jpg)