Albert Camus - The Outsider
Camus' classic novel is called "L'estranger" in French and, depending on the translation which you pick up, is either translated into "The Outsider" or "The Stranger" in English. The one I picked up, translated by Joseph Laredo, was the Penguin Books version called "The Outsider".Although generally regarded as an existentialist piece of work, Camus never liked to subscribe to any particular "ism" and regarded this work as closer to absurdism than existentialism, however the two are closely linked and there is no denying the existentialist undertones.
The book is about a peculiar man, Meursault, who leads a relatively ordinary bachelor life in Algeirs until he commits an act of violence. His response to the incident during his subsequent trial puts his peculiarities on display and makes the reader question whether it is the man who is peculiar... or whether it is the society within which he is living that is, in fact, absurd.
Meursault does not believe that there is a God, nor does he believe that our lives have any purpose or meaning beyond the daily goings on and their related sensory experiences. He does not believe in fabricating emotion or remorse just because it is expected by society and refuses to be dishonest about how he truly feels in relation to anything.
The opening line of the novel, quite possibly the most commonly dissected opening line in literature: "Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday, I don't know" says it all. Meursault no longer lived with his Mother, he put her in a home because he couldnt afford to look after her and because "they'd run out of things to say to each other". Meursault was unsure when she died because, after all, does it really matter which particular day a person dies on? Meursault did not cry at Mother's funeral, nor did he show any emotion really. Does this make him a bad person?
Camus stated that the book sprung from the idea he had, the notion that a man can be condemned to death for not crying at his mother's funeral, the absurd reality of how much pressure society puts on us to behave, react, think and feel in a certain way, and the ostracision and destruction of "outsiders", people that act differently... This notion turns Meursault into a hero of sorts. A man that is courageously defending a cause, in the face of a justice system that is not particularly just...
This book is an inspiration to anyone of us who has ever felt like an "outsider".
Labels: literature, philosophy
posted by LX @ 4:10 AM
Comments: 2
