The Auswine Forum

Melbourne East Offline had a dinner last night at Wildflower where many excellent wines were tasted. One of them shares something in common with the protagonist in these references:

1.(From memory) the quote goes something like this:

"It was as if that great rush of anger washed me clean, emptied me of hope. And As I looked up at the dark and spangled sky with all its stars and signs, for the very first time I lay my heart open to the vast indifference of the universe. To feel it so like myself, indeed so brotherly, made me realise that I'd been happy and that I was happy still. All that I could hope for was that I would be met with howls of execration..."
Albert Camus, The Outsider (L'Etranger).

2. The Cure song, Killing an Arab, From Boy's Don't Cry (1979)

"I'm alive
I'm dead
I'm the stranger
Killing an arab"

What was the wine?

Neville K wrote:Melbourne East Offline had a dinner last night at Wildflower where many excellent wines were tasted. One of them shares something in common with the protagonist in these references:

1.(From memory) the quote goes like this:
"It was as if that great rush of anger washed me clean, emptied me of hope. And As I looked up at the dark and spangled sky with all its stars and signs, for the very first time I lay my heart open to the vast indifference of the universe. To feel it so like myself, indeed so brotherly, made me realise that I'd been happy and that I was happy still. All that I could hope was that I would be mets with howls of execration..."
Albert Camus, The Outsider (L'Etranger).

2. The Cure song, Killing an Arab, From Boy's Don't Cry (1979)

"I'm alive
I'm dead
I'm the stranger
Killing an arab"

What was the wine?

Much too ambiguous for my taste. Hmm...Meursault died ( was killed ) earlier than most, so it could be a wine too young, and it could be a wine too old, as The Cure's piece applied to wine may signify youth, then premature ageing beyond recognition. The reference to killing an Arab may indicate the origin of the wine as a country of the Coalition of The Willing. It isn't the UK, maybe US or AUS? :0) All too open for interpretation at this stage...Hints?

Jakob

Jakob,

Without being too cryptic,

the answer lies within...

Apologies to the Wizz (no, not Jeff Farmer).

erm...you had been smoking some excellent Arabian hashish before dinner?

Neville,

I guess that the wine is a straight Malbec - maybe a 1992 Wendouree?

The Malbec variety is known as L'estranger in France - being the title of the book by Albert Camus. Killing an Arab is Robert Smith's short poetic attempt at condensing his impression of the key moments in the book.

Cheers

Scott

I like the reasoning, Scot .... but why the Wendouree?

I have NFI - Just a pure guess!

Why not Red Car's "The Stranger"?

Yes, the more I think about it: The Red Car Wine Company's "The Stranger" 2001 Syrah.

Now that I have seen the wines it must be Rousseau - if you google rousseau and camus you get all this marxist philosophy stuff - the individual versus society as a collection of indivduals.

I hope Neville can fill us in - never did philosophy/english at uni


Albert Camus s'inscriu en la tradició moralista francesa de Chamfort i Rousseau

Paul

Also having seen the wines it could be the Meursault - the protagonist in the book.

Jakob almost had it - and without a google search I suspect!

Scott

Correct weight has been notified. Jakob was closest to the Pin without the identity of the wines being disclosed. It was simpler than the extrications he and others considered off the scent.

Meursault was the protagonist in Camus' existential novel who killed an arab for his friend; did not weep at his mother's funeral, nor when faced with imminent execution did he see the face of God in his prison cell (or the face of Marie, his pretty girlfriend for that matter). Meursault was the outsider:perhaps like a white wine at the table of red drinkers?

Robert Smith of the Cure wrote "killing an Arab" in reference to Camus' book.

How many other fictional or real life characters have been named after famous wine villages?