The Stranger

by Albert Camus

With the intrigue of a psychological thriller, The Stranger—Camus's masterpiece—gives us the story of an ordinary man unwittingly drawn into a senseless murder on an Algerian beach. With an Introduction by Peter Dunwoodie; translated by Matthew Ward.

Behind the subterfuge, Camus explores what he termed "the nakedness of man faced with the absurd" and describes the condition of reckless alienation and spiritual exhaustion that characterized so much of twentieth-century life. 

“The Stranger is a strikingly modern text and Matthew Ward’s translation will enable readers to appreciate why Camus’s stoical anti-hero and ­devious narrator remains one of the key expressions of a postwar Western malaise, and one of the cleverest exponents of a literature of ambiguity.” —from the Introduction by Peter Dunwoodie

First published in 1946; now in translation by Matthew Ward.

• ISBN10: 0679720200
• ISBN13: 9780679720201
• Publish Date: 13 March 1989 (first published 25 January 1942)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Random House USA Inc
• Imprint: Vintage Books
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 144
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780679720201

Reviews

[Berls]

My brother has a real knack for finding books I've never heard of and would probably never have read on my own - and then they turn out being pretty good!

This is an older, award-winning book which is how it ended up on Phil's short list. I can see why it won awards, there's something very mesmerizing by it. The title is interesting because I'm not 100% sure who The Stranger is that it's meant to refer to, but I do think the main character was very strange. It's as if he has no emotion - though that's not exactly accurate. This is such a hard book to explain without telling you what happened. But I will say, it's a very quick read... I READ it (not listened - not even sure if it's available in audio) and it only took me 4 days. If you know me, you know that's super-fast. Many of you would probably put it away in one day lol. I recommend it, because it is super compelling and just different from so much of what I normally read - it was nice to go off the beaten path.

[kerrydarkeyes]

Not gonna lie, the first half had me like ...



But by the end ...

[kiracanread]

Definitely an interesting read but it just didn't click with me. I did enjoying reading it though.

[Michael @ Knowledge Lost]

The Stranger (also known as The Outsider or L’Étranger) tells the story of Meursault, an unsympathetic French Algerian, who after attending his mother’s funeral, finds himself killing an Arab man. The novel follows a first-person narrative that explores the events before and after this murder. Albert Camus said is best when he said “I summarised The Stranger a long time ago, with a remark I admit was highly paradoxical: ‘In our society 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.”

On the surface The Stranger is the story of an emotionless protagonist; Meursault does not care about anything and could be considered a sociopath. However, this novel is often cited as an example of Camus’ philosophy on the absurd and existentialism. So in order to fully grasp the intent behind this classic novel, we must look into just what existentialism is and more practically absurdism.

The absurd is often referring to the conflicting philosophy that humans have a tendency to seek out value and meaning in life. However absurdism believes it is logically and humanly impossible to find any meaning of life. Philosophers may have very different doctrines but they generally believe that philosophical thinking begins with the human subject. Though existentialism comes from the disorientation or confusion that we are living in a meaningless (or absurd) world.

For Albert Camus, The Stranger is an exploration into the meaning of life and if life has no meaning what is the purpose of morality. Meursault’s detachment from the world is a result of his conclusion that life is meaningless; “The chaplain knew the game well too, I could tell right away: his gaze never faltered. And his voice didn’t falter, either, when he said, ‘Have you no hope at all? And do you really live with the thought that when you die, you die, and nothing remains?’ ‘Yes,’ I said.” Paradoxically, it was only after being sentenced to death, that Meursault was able to obtain some sense of happiness.

Without an understanding of Albert Camus’ philosophical ideas, I do not think that the reader will have any hope in truly understand or appreciating this novel. However I have heard that The Stranger has been an option for high school students (especially in America) to study. I wonder how many students fall into the trap of picking this novel thinking it was short only to discover how difficult it is to analyse. I do not have enough of an understanding of absurdism or existential philosophy to full appreciate The Stranger. However re-reading this novel has helped me understand this enough to enjoy the Camus’ philosophical ideas.

This review originally appeared on my blog; http://www.knowledgelost.org/book-reviews/genre/classic/the-stranger-by-albert-camus/

[celinenyx]

The Stranger is a short novel written by Nobel-prize winner essentialist-but-not-really Camus. There are a few things you should know about this book. One, it has plenty of philosophical meaning and such, but if you're not interested in that, the plot isn't very strong. Two, if you are interested in what Camus has to say, The Stranger is interesting and pretty readable. And three: Camus is very interested in absurdism and the meaning of life. Overall The Stranger is pretty depressing.

Somehow I actually became pretty interested in the main character Meursault, despite the distant and detached narration. Sometimes, especially near the end, Camus' philosophical ideas overshadow his literary ones. There is not much time to get bored though, since The Stranger has the length of a weighty novella.

[Whitney @ First Impressions Reviews]

The Stranger is a short story of an ordinary man who being in the wrong place at the wrong time creates a senseless murder while in a moment of delusion. Albert Camus' novel is a human study on a persons psyche and throws you into the inter-workings of a man down on his luck.

The Stranger has a slow strategic pacing almost making me put the book aside. Although this is two of my uncle's favorite books so I plowed along. I soon realized the intentional snail pace was purposeful to completely understand our character and the stranger within. It is strange because while this was not thrilling nor suspenseful it had me on the edge of my seat turning those few pages as fast as I could go.

I think the thing I found the most eerie is that Meursault, our main character shoots and kills a group of Arabs. I know that sounds silly but with everything that is going on in the world this fragment made this 1946 novel seem current.

Albert Camus' small book is a giant masterpiece that is highly worth the read.