Writes and wrongs

Is it proper for a writer to appropriate another’s work or should great stories and characters be set in stone?

Nobel prize-winning author Albert Camus. (AFP / ORTF)

Albert Camus, the Algerian-born French writer, died in 1960, 18 years after he wrote L'Étranger (The Stranger). A sequel of sorts, The Meursault Investigation, has just been published. It is not a newly discovered work from the Camus archive, it is the brainchild of a living author, Kamel Daoud, and it is part of a growing trend of new books that "borrow" characters and situations from past works.

The formula has already been applied with various levels of success to characters such as Sherlock Holmes and James Bond whose creators had already recognised and exploited their commercial appeal many times. Film thrives on this formula.

But L’Étranger stands alone. Is there any value to a novel that Camus might have written but didn’t? Trying to match a masterwork could be seen as an act of hubris. For many, the pleasure in literature is about being immersed in a world fully delineated by the author. Others, like Daoud, feel that there is sometimes more to be said.