I did not know, until last night, that Killing an Arab by the Cure, one of my favorite songs, is a reference to a story by Albert Camus called L'Étranger. I recall his Myth of Sisyphus as one of the most interesting and valuable things that I was "forced" to read in High School. So a copy of L'Étranger is now in my backpack and I am most excited about reading it.

Or rather, an English translation of it - the correct translation being a subject of some controversy, apparently. I find myself wishing that my French was strong enough that I wouldn't have to bother with a translation. It is the first time in my life when I have wanted to know French for a deeper reason than to be able to hang out in France without being constantly regarded as an annoying outsider (which is an impossible goal for an American and therefore an ironically Sisyphusian reason for practicing the language).

I also did not know that Albert Camus was French - much less a Pied-Noir, an Algerian Frenchman. Hence the killing of an Arab by the stranger - by a Frenchman on a beach in Algeria. I continue to be fascinated by Algeria after watching The Battle of Algiers, which was every bit as interesting as it was supposed to be. I still haven't seen Pepe le Moko.