The Strenger

in #novel7 years ago

220px-L’Étranger_(Camus_novel).jpg

The Stranger is a novel by French author Albert Camus. the theme and outlook of these are often cited as examples of Camus' philosophy of the absurd and existentialism, though Camus personally rejected the latter label.

The title character is Meursault, an indifferent French Algerian described as "a citizen of France domiciled in North Africa, a man of the Mediterranean, a home du midi yet one who hardly partakes of the traditional Mediterranean culture".[1] He attends his mother's funeral. A few days later, he kills an Arab man in French Algiers, who was involved in a conflict with a friend. Meursault is tried and sentenced to death. The story is divided into two parts, presenting Meursault's first-person narrative view before and after the murder, respectively.

In January 1955, Camus wrote:

I summarized The Stranger a long time ago, with a remark I admit was highly paradoxical: 'In our society, ty any man who does not weep at his mother's funeral runs the risk of being sentenced to death.' I only meant that the hero of my book is condemned because he does not play the game.
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