Utsob Roy reviewed The Stranger by Albert Camus
Review of 'The Stranger' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
বেশি একটা ভালো লাগে নাই।
Hardcover, 171 pages
French language
Published July 15, 1989 by Gallimard.
L'Étranger
by Albert Camus
4 stars
(14 reviews)
L'Étranger is a 1942 novella by French author Albert Camus. Its theme and outlook are often cited as examples of Camus' philosophy, absurdism coupled with existentialism, though Camus personally rejected the latter label.The title character is Meursault, an indifferent French Algerian described as "a citizen of France domiciled in North Africa, a man of the Mediterranean, an homme du midi yet one who hardly partakes of the traditional Mediterranean culture." He attends his mother's funeral. Weeks later, he kills an Arab man in French Algiers, who was involved in a conflict with one of Meursault's neighbors. Meursault is tried and sentenced to death. The story is divided into two parts, presenting Meursault's first-person narrative view before and after the murder, respectively. In January 1955, Camus wrote this:
I summarized The Stranger a long time ago, with a remark I admit was highly paradoxical: "In our society any man who does …
L'Étranger is a 1942 novella by French author Albert Camus. Its theme and outlook are often cited as examples of Camus' philosophy, absurdism coupled with existentialism, though Camus personally rejected the latter label.The title character is Meursault, an indifferent French Algerian described as "a citizen of France domiciled in North Africa, a man of the Mediterranean, an homme du midi yet one who hardly partakes of the traditional Mediterranean culture." He attends his mother's funeral. Weeks later, he kills an Arab man in French Algiers, who was involved in a conflict with one of Meursault's neighbors. Meursault is tried and sentenced to death. The story is divided into two parts, presenting Meursault's first-person narrative view before and after the murder, respectively. In January 1955, Camus wrote this:
I summarized 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. The Stranger's first edition consisted of only 4,400 copies, which was so few that it could not be a best-seller. Since the novella was published during the Nazi occupation of France, there was a possibility that the Propaganda-Staffel would censor it, but a representative of the Occupation authorities felt it contained nothing damaging to their cause, so it was published without omissions. However, the novel was well received in anti-Nazi circles in addition to Jean-Paul Sartre's article "Explication de L'Étranger".Translated four times into English, and also into numerous other languages, the novel has long been considered a classic of 20th-century literature. Le Monde ranks it as number one on its 100 Books of the Century. The novel was twice adapted as films: Lo Straniero (1967) (Italian) by Luchino Visconti and Yazgı (2001, Fate) by Zeki Demirkubuz (Turkish).
Matthew Royal reviewed The Stranger by Albert Camus
Review of 'The Stranger' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
This to me seems like a story about a neuro-atypical, Asperger's-like young man who runs afoul of a society geared toward only those who think and feel along "normal" parameters. It holds up a mirror to the absurdities of the modern justice system and its deficiencies in doing anything but maintaining norms for the society.
Looking forward to reading some commentaries about this one so I know what I should think and how I should feel about it.
"If by some extraordinary chance the blade failed, they would just start over. So the thing that bothered me most was that the condemned man had to hope the machine would work the first time. And I say that's wrong. And in a way I was right. But in another way I was forced to admit that that was the whole secret of good organization. In other words, the condemned man was …
This to me seems like a story about a neuro-atypical, Asperger's-like young man who runs afoul of a society geared toward only those who think and feel along "normal" parameters. It holds up a mirror to the absurdities of the modern justice system and its deficiencies in doing anything but maintaining norms for the society.
Looking forward to reading some commentaries about this one so I know what I should think and how I should feel about it.
"If by some extraordinary chance the blade failed, they would just start over. So the thing that bothered me most was that the condemned man had to hope the machine would work the first time. And I say that's wrong. And in a way I was right. But in another way I was forced to admit that that was the whole secret of good organization. In other words, the condemned man was forced into a kind of moral collaboration. It was in his interest that everything go off without a hitch."
Orlion reviewed The Stranger by Albert Camus
Review of 'The Stranger' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
The Stranger is held as a prime example of an existential novel. Albert Camus denied being an existentialist during his life, though he may have changed his mind since. So, what type of novel is The Stranger? Why, a fictional one, of course.
The Stranger is characterized by two characteristics: a simplistic, almost bare bones style and a somewhat apathetic narrator. Meursault does not have much in the ways of human hopes and dreams. He does not aspire to be anything other then what he is and only pursues basic hedonistic desires by whim. To call him ordinary would be to claim that he is more exciting than he actually is. What enables him to carry the book and also is the heart of the novel is how indifferent he is to the idea of life or actions having "meaning".
As a result, Meursault presents to the readers and characters …
The Stranger is held as a prime example of an existential novel. Albert Camus denied being an existentialist during his life, though he may have changed his mind since. So, what type of novel is The Stranger? Why, a fictional one, of course.
The Stranger is characterized by two characteristics: a simplistic, almost bare bones style and a somewhat apathetic narrator. Meursault does not have much in the ways of human hopes and dreams. He does not aspire to be anything other then what he is and only pursues basic hedonistic desires by whim. To call him ordinary would be to claim that he is more exciting than he actually is. What enables him to carry the book and also is the heart of the novel is how indifferent he is to the idea of life or actions having "meaning".
As a result, Meursault presents to the readers and characters of the novel a challenge to postulation of universal meaning. He is, in fact, very much like the universe in Stephen Cranes poem:
A man said to the universe:
“Sir, I exist!"
“However,” replied the universe,
“The fact has not created in me
“A sense of obligation.”
Because of this, I read Camus' novel as a conflict between man-imposed meaning (religion, justice, morality, etc.) and an incomprehensible universe. It shows me, the reader, how absurd it is to accuse the universe of injustice, of being cruel, or even indifferent. Things will happen often with no discernible reason or motive, why waste my limited time trying to scry them?
