Notes
An overview of The Stranger
Critic: Patrick J. Moser
Source: Exploring Novels, Gale, 1998
Criticism about: Albert Camus (1913-1960), also known as: Albert Mathe
Nationality: Algerian; French
[Moser is an assistant professor at the University of California[pic]Davis. In the following excerpt, Moser describes The Stranger in terms of its Existential elements, Camus's philosophy of the absurd, and other viewpoints.]
The Stranger is probably Albert Camus's best known and most widely read work. Originally published in French in 1942 under the title L'Etranger, it precedes other celebrated writings such as the essays The Myth of Sisyphus (1943) and The Rebel (1951), the plays Caligula (1945) and The Just Assassins (1949), and the novels The Plague (1947) and The Fall (1956). Set in pre-World War II Algeria, The Stranger nevertheless confronts issues that have preoccupied intellectuals and writers of post-World War II Europe: the apparent randomness of violence and death; the emptiness of social morality in the face of an irrational world; a focus on existential and absurd aspects of the human condition. Through the singular viewpoint of the narrator Meursault, Camus presents a philosophy devoid of religious belief and middle-class morality, where sentience and personal honesty become the bases of a happy and responsible life.
What perhaps strikes the reader first about The Stranger is the unemotional tone of the narrator, Meursault. The novel begins: [pic]Today, mama died. Or maybe yesterday, I don't know. I received a telegram from the retirement home: `Mother deceased. Funeral tomorrow. Deepest sympathy.' That tells me nothing. It could have been yesterday..[pic] Meursault's flat response to the death of his mother conveys a sense of resignation, one supported by his lack of ambition at work and his indifference in personal relationships. Save for his tirade against the chaplain at the end of the novel, Meursault remains rather monotone throughout; his only
Critic: Patrick J. Moser
Source: Exploring Novels, Gale, 1998
Criticism about: Albert Camus (1913-1960), also known as: Albert Mathe
Nationality: Algerian; French
[Moser is an assistant professor at the University of California[pic]Davis. In the following excerpt, Moser describes The Stranger in terms of its Existential elements, Camus's philosophy of the absurd, and other viewpoints.]
The Stranger is probably Albert Camus's best known and most widely read work. Originally published in French in 1942 under the title L'Etranger, it precedes other celebrated writings such as the essays The Myth of Sisyphus (1943) and The Rebel (1951), the plays Caligula (1945) and The Just Assassins (1949), and the novels The Plague (1947) and The Fall (1956). Set in pre-World War II Algeria, The Stranger nevertheless confronts issues that have preoccupied intellectuals and writers of post-World War II Europe: the apparent randomness of violence and death; the emptiness of social morality in the face of an irrational world; a focus on existential and absurd aspects of the human condition. Through the singular viewpoint of the narrator Meursault, Camus presents a philosophy devoid of religious belief and middle-class morality, where sentience and personal honesty become the bases of a happy and responsible life.
What perhaps strikes the reader first about The Stranger is the unemotional tone of the narrator, Meursault. The novel begins: [pic]Today, mama died. Or maybe yesterday, I don't know. I received a telegram from the retirement home: `Mother deceased. Funeral tomorrow. Deepest sympathy.' That tells me nothing. It could have been yesterday..[pic] Meursault's flat response to the death of his mother conveys a sense of resignation, one supported by his lack of ambition at work and his indifference in personal relationships. Save for his tirade against the chaplain at the end of the novel, Meursault remains rather monotone throughout; his only