I& #39;ve been rereading a lot of Camus and Baldwin lately. In No Name in the Street, Baldwin criticizes Camus (somewhat unfairly). Anyway, I never noticed it before but Baldwin makes a very glaring and basic mistake, saying that Camus was born in Oran and sets The Stranger there.

Camus was born and raised in Algiers and The Stranger was famously set on the beach in Algiers. This may seem like a minor point, but that makes me wonder how closely Baldwin was reading Camus, and how much of his mind was already made up when he critiqued him as a pied noir.

Sontag has a fascinating critique of Camus where she lumps him with Baldwin and Orwell, saying all 3 are essentially 2nd-rate artists though morally beautiful men who readers will to be greater than they are. That they exemplify the line at which a writer& #39;s work meets his image.

All 3 are better artists than she (and she says that Camus was a better novelist than Baldwin or Orwell), but I do think there& #39;s something to her point. In any event, I& #39;m not aware that Camus was aware of Baldwin, but it& #39;s exciting to see one engage the other, even inaccurately.