The Stranger

I hated, hated, hated this book. It came highly recommended and I voluntarily (and rather enthusiastically) picked it up. There has never been a main character I have been more disgusted by, a storyline that has been less interesting, and a writing style that has been more obnoxious. I would burn it if it weren't borrowed.

"The Stranger's" theme is that from the moment we are born we are already fated to die and there is no escaping this, so life is largely pointless. Yes, this book is a classic European existentialist-angst downer. The main character, Meursault, is one of those too-cool-to-live guys that just sits in a chair all afternoon and smokes cigarettes blankly--as he does in the book.

Meursault, however, is a post-war Western man. This description may not have been Camus' intention. But the lack of feeling or concern for anything, whether the fact that his "Maman" (a term of affection?) just passed away or that a girlfriend loves him enough to think of marrying him, clearly crosses the line into sociopathy. Meursault goes wherever the events of the day may take him. It might be sitting on his balcony all afternoon or working or shooting a guy to death on a beach. Either way, it doesn't make much difference to him.

Camus' "The Stranger," after this first reading, seems to be an introduction of Western man's inner self after World War II: shiftless, unbelieving (in anything larger than himself), devoid of any intimacy or emotion; utterly uncaring about anything around him. The theme of "we're all dead anyway" is clearly revealing and is much food for later thought. "The Stranger" is a book that will require lengthy revisiting despite its brevity. Just don't revisit it during the holidays.

Camus' The Stranger gives us a portrait of the logical extremity of Nihlism in his character who goes through life with a detachment that is quite disturbing. A numbing look at life as experienced as a series of disconnected episodes without meaning, without commitment , without love.

Does this short novel deserve the critical and academic acclaim and analysis it has received for the last 50 years? Maybe not as literature but as a reflection of the philosophical climate of postwar Europe in which it was conceived and written it still resonates.

I was required to read this book for my english class. The only books we ever read are depressing, sad and pointless. If you want to conteplate how pointless life is and whether it is worth it for you to be alive right now breathing and wasting air, then this book is perfect for you. I don't know how it can be hailed as fantastic when the english level is quite low and meaningless. It doesn't make you contemplate the mysteries of life, it just makes you feel more sad and depressed, like our lives aren't. If you don't want to be cornered into an idea of contemplating suicide, then please do not read this book.

Camus is here proponing his absurdist theory, as something of a counterpoint to existentialism. The amoral main character, Meursault has a short attention span and an utterly lazy approach to life - not that he doesn't work hard, but that it doesn't make any difference to him what happens. His catchphrase is that things and events are "of so little importance." "It's common knowledge that life isn't worth living, anyhow," is what gets him through the day.

The novel begins as Meursault's mother dies, and then takes us through his daily activities, culminating in a rather inexcusable murder. The second half of the novel traces Meursault's trial.

Ultimately, Meursault rejects God repeatedly, although it certainly didn't help that the minister (along with the one other Christian in the novel) is something of a buffoon, and has a very poor approach. Meursault is content to put his fate in the hands of "the benign indifference of the universe."

Considering the implications of some of these philosophies, it remains baffling to me that some people are content to die and then to cease to exist. Put another way, some people have so little regard for their own existence. Certainly both existentialism and absurdism are anti-Christianity in this and many other aspects.

The novel has a little trouble getting out of the blocks, but it picks up nicely and it's a quick read. Ultimately, the degree to which one enjoys this book is dependent on how one feels about its philosophies.

TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT