To use my school French as an example, Bonsoir and Good Evening have very different feels both on the tongue and within a sentence. Meaning can vary dramatically enough when translating, but with syntactical differences and (I imagine) considerable variation in syllable count I imagine it must be very difficult to echo Camus' flow. I love the way well-constructed pieces can have you singing to the author's tune or dancing to his rhythm, and it leads me to wonder how you maintain or reflect this in a translation. 'In literature or any writing, I feel maintaining and manipulating a pace is crucial to an author's tone and also the way readers will react to a whole range of revelations or actions. In relation to this idea, a contributor called Daveportivo also asked: I listened to his reading and tried to translate with his intonation, pauses, breath, emphases, et cetera in mind. I was very excited when I discovered that the Librairie sonore in Paris had released a recording of Camus reading the entire book on French radio so immediately ordered the CDs. You listened to a recording of Camus reading The Outsider as well as working with the text while you worked on the translation. However, 'La Peste' (The Plague) and 'La Chute' (The Fall) are also brilliant. My opinion did not change as to the importance of the book and its relevance. The language is simple in the extreme but the symbolism and underlying philosophical ideas quite complex. As I translated the book, I appreciated even more the enormous skill that went into it. He was my idol! I just loved the way he wrote. I read L'Etranger many years ago as a student and immediately wanted to know more about Camus, so read more.

When did you first read The Outsider, and how did it strike you then? Following on from that, what happened to your opinions of the book as you worked on the translation? Did they alter at all? He is an optimist – whereas Sartre was such a pessimist! He has faith in the basic goodness of people. Camus demonstrates his love for life in all his works, despite the Absurd and all the negative aspects of this world. There is a little-known work by him called 'Lettres à un ami allemand' (Letters to a German Friend) written during the Occupation which are a brilliant mixture of history, sociology, politics and literature. He is very human and his politics are the politics of peace. People can relate to his work on so many levels. Firstly, he writes beautifully, mixing literary skill and philosophical ideas seamlessly.

The outsider camus book