"The Guest" ("L'Hôte") is a short story by the French writer Albert Camus. It was first published in 1957 as part of a collection entitled Exile and the Kingdom (L'exil et le royaume). The French title "L'Hôte" translates into both "the guest" and "the host" which ties back to the relationship between the main characters of the story. Camus employs this short tale to reflect upon issues raised by the political situation in French North Africa. In particular, he explores the problem of refusing to take sides in the colonial conflict in Algeria, something that mirrors Camus' own non-aligned stance which he had set out in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech.

Daniel Jonathan “Dan” Stevens (born 10 October 1982) is a British actor.

Stevens was adopted at birth and had a rebellious youth. He has a younger brother who was also adopted.

Stevens boarded at Tonbridge School, a public school in Kent, where he became interested in drama after auditioning for the title role in Macbeth with his teacher, novelist Jonathan Smith (father of cricketer Ed Smith). Stevens went on to read English Literature at Emmanuel College, Cambridge and narrowly missed out on a first despite devoting much of his time to theatre during his final year. While at Cambridge he was a member of the Footlights and gained acting experience with the National Youth Theatre. He was first spotted by acclaimed director Sir Peter Hall during a student production.

Stevens has worked extensively in theatre in Britain and the United States, working with Peter Hall many times. He was nominated for an Ian Charleson Award for his portrayal of Orlando in As You Like It for the Peter Hall Company in 2005.

Mark Kermode (born 2 July 1963) is an English film critic, musician and a member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. He contributes to Sight and Sound magazine, The Observer newspaper and BBC Radio 5 Live, where he presents Kermode and Mayo's Film Reviews with Simon Mayo on Friday afternoons. He also co-presents the BBC Two arts programme The Culture Show and discusses other branches of the arts for the BBC Two programme Newsnight Review. Kermode writes and presents a film-related video blog for the BBC.

Kermode, born Mark Fairey in Barnet, North London, England, attended Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, an independent boys' school in Elstree, a few years ahead of comedians Sacha Baron Cohen, Matt Lucas and David Baddiel and in the same year as actor Jason Isaacs. He was raised as a Methodist, and is now a member of the Church of England.

Mark Fairey's parents divorced when he was in his early 20s and he subsequently changed his surname to his GP mother's maiden name by deed poll. (Neither of them is related to the literary critic Frank Kermode.)