The Stranger
Albert CamusFiction
Finished on 25.10.2021
My thoughts
A proper intro seems a little pointless given that this short book is perhaps one of the better known works of philosophical fiction. I will say however that it had for a long time existed in my periphery, as a text that I knew I would enjoy and yet never quite got around to doing so. This wrong has been righted, and I can say that, upon first reading it did not disappoint. Upon first reading because the moment I finished it I knew I would read it again. This was a difficult book to write about, but I thought it could be interesting to note my first impressions.
The narrative of the book when distilled down to its essence is fairly straightforward. We observe the world through the eyes and mind of Meursaul a young French Algerian man. The story takes him mostly at a reluctant yet somehow urgent pace from; his Mothers funeral, a quick romantic tryst, to encounters with his neighbors and friends, one of which lead him to a situation he struggles to deal with, and ends up committing murder. This all occurs in the first half of the novel, the second half deals with his sentencing, time spent in jail before his hearing and coming to terms with the outcome. It is quite amazing how many vivid and riveting scenes this short story manages to cram together, from the iconic first line to the final heated debate, the pace and content is such that one feels almost compelled to finish it in one sitting.
But it isn't what happens to Meursaul that is fascinating, it is how. His perspective on the world, one which we as the reader are forced to inhabit, is strangely detached, brutal and passive. But there are also moments of feeling. If observed from the outside Meursaul would be a truly unsympathetic character, but somehow because we inhabit him and hear his thoughts we can't help but empathise. It is perhaps this cruel neutrality that allows Camus to make his case regarding the judicial system in an unbiased way, an overly sympathetic character could be seen to be a vessel for the author's views. This way Camus can show that even to this unlikable man, who perhaps deserves punishment, he would still argue deserves the humanity that was clearly stripped from him in the second half of the book.
The book is written in short clear sentences but coloured with vivid descriptions of banal, human things, feelings and sensations, such as the almost ever present sun, and its power to render one uncomfortable…
I will not try and posit some definitive meaning as I do not feel qualified to do so. But my initial perhaps clumsy take on this novel is that it concerns the strange contrast between the rough human nature of us as animals and the ongoing, self imposed, experiment called society. Where these two worlds rub, strange, cold and meaningless things happen, for no reason, and to no one in particular. But things that happen for no reason are no less impactful to the beings that are affected than things that do. Our structures permit the absurd to happen as long as the end results fit with our common world view, proper procedures are followed and justice is done.
Link to PDF of text:
https://bxscience.edu/ourpages/auto/2019/2/28/69275970/The%20Stranger%20-%20Albert%20Camus.pdf
The narrative of the book when distilled down to its essence is fairly straightforward. We observe the world through the eyes and mind of Meursaul a young French Algerian man. The story takes him mostly at a reluctant yet somehow urgent pace from; his Mothers funeral, a quick romantic tryst, to encounters with his neighbors and friends, one of which lead him to a situation he struggles to deal with, and ends up committing murder. This all occurs in the first half of the novel, the second half deals with his sentencing, time spent in jail before his hearing and coming to terms with the outcome. It is quite amazing how many vivid and riveting scenes this short story manages to cram together, from the iconic first line to the final heated debate, the pace and content is such that one feels almost compelled to finish it in one sitting.
But it isn't what happens to Meursaul that is fascinating, it is how. His perspective on the world, one which we as the reader are forced to inhabit, is strangely detached, brutal and passive. But there are also moments of feeling. If observed from the outside Meursaul would be a truly unsympathetic character, but somehow because we inhabit him and hear his thoughts we can't help but empathise. It is perhaps this cruel neutrality that allows Camus to make his case regarding the judicial system in an unbiased way, an overly sympathetic character could be seen to be a vessel for the author's views. This way Camus can show that even to this unlikable man, who perhaps deserves punishment, he would still argue deserves the humanity that was clearly stripped from him in the second half of the book.
The book is written in short clear sentences but coloured with vivid descriptions of banal, human things, feelings and sensations, such as the almost ever present sun, and its power to render one uncomfortable…
I will not try and posit some definitive meaning as I do not feel qualified to do so. But my initial perhaps clumsy take on this novel is that it concerns the strange contrast between the rough human nature of us as animals and the ongoing, self imposed, experiment called society. Where these two worlds rub, strange, cold and meaningless things happen, for no reason, and to no one in particular. But things that happen for no reason are no less impactful to the beings that are affected than things that do. Our structures permit the absurd to happen as long as the end results fit with our common world view, proper procedures are followed and justice is done.
Link to PDF of text:
https://bxscience.edu/ourpages/auto/2019/2/28/69275970/The%20Stranger%20-%20Albert%20Camus.pdf