"Grand" Ideas

The title of this book is a reference to the character Joseph Grand from Albert Camus’ 1947 masterpiece The Plague. I read The Plague almost by accident, as my intention behind doing so was to better understand Camus’ philosophy. However, I ended up loving the book, and found myself relating somewhat to the character of Joseph Grand. Grand also tries to write a book during the epidemic that ravages the town of Oran in The Plague, which I found eerily similar to how I am writing this book in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic. Like Grand, I also used to get hung up over ensuring every little detail of my writing was perfect, which ultimately was a hindrance, until I learned that I could only expect myself to write to the best of my ability. Whatever others think of my writing is their opinion, and does not change the level of time and effort I dedicated to my writing. Of course, I knew from the start that this was going to be a hugely ambitious project, hence the double meaning of “Grand”. What follows is an amalgamation of my own thoughts and opinions with thoroughly researched facts and narratives. It may not be a revolutionary or ground-breaking work, but it is a starting point, one that I put everything I had into. Hopefully, this won’t be the last book you see my name on.