The Misunderstanding

In this version of The Misunderstanding translated by Ryan Bloom, the Foreword is the short, introductory note Camus included in the original 1944 playbill. Camus establishes the setting as a small village in Bohemia (a region of the modern-day Czech Republic) and introduces Jan as a man who returns to his hometown after a 20-year absence to learn whether he still has a “homeland of the heart” (143). Jan resolves to conceal his identity from his mother and sister. He believes that only in doing so will he feel certain of the answer to the question of whether or not they will recognize him. Camus states the central theme: “[M]an carries his share of illusions and misunderstandings within him, and they are what have to be killed off. In sacrificing them, man frees another part of himself, the best part, the one that rebels and seeks freedom” (143).

In the reception area of a clean, well-lit inn in Bohemia, innkeepers Martha and her mother (who Camus simply calls “the Mother”) discuss their latest customer who—like their other solitary, rich guests—they intend to murder and rob. Unbeknownst to them, this man is Martha’s brother and the Mother’s son,