The Stranger

The Stranger was published in 1942 by Albert Camus, in French, as L'Étranger. The story revolves around a man named Meursault who, in a heated moment, shoots and kills another man on a beach. The events leading up to the shooting, and Meursault’s subsequent legal trial and incarceration, are a platform for Camus to explore issues of meaning and meaninglessness in life. Along with the author’s other work (such as The Fall or The Myth of Sisyphus), The Stranger is a medium in which Camus explores his own pet philosophy: "the absurd." More about this later, but in short, "Absurdism" says the world is devoid of rational meaning. The Nobel Prize Committee quite rationally thought Camus should win some money, so they gave him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957, not for The Stranger per se, but for his generally "important literary production."

OK, so at first it seems like this "stranger," Meursault, is just a guy who is emotionally incapable, socially unaware, and understands relationships only in the context of the physical. But before you slap the "loser" sign on his forehead, take note that, actually, the stranger is an introspective and, to some degree tortured, philosophical rebel. And the philosophy that he and Camus promote – the philosophy of Absurdism – doesn't only apply to this book. A lot of people in the real world are big on Absurdism, so you might as well use this book as an opportunity to learn what it's all about.

Absurdism essentially says that the world is so nonsensical, so absurd, that you can’t expect to find meaning in it anywhere. There’s no logic, no rationale, no governing order. "Pshaw!" you say. Well, let's take the devil's advocate position. People on the absurdist bandwagon might ask you, "Where’s the logic in 12th century Europe when everyone got together and decided to kill people who didn’t believe in their religion?" According to the absurdist point of view, the humans throughout history have done some pretty nonsensical things.

The Stranger concludes that, because of this absurdity, we can’t find meaning in the world. Now that you've read the book, it's up to you to decide if the world is indeed absurd.