The Stranger

Camus' The Stranger is a classic of existential lit and has no doubt been read by just about everyone who has ever been an undergraduate at any university in the world.

For anyone who hasn't read it, The Stranger is a compact tale about a young French-Algerian, Meursault, who serves as narrator and the literary embodiment of existential philosophy (although Camus never considered himself to be an existentialist). At the outset of the novel, Meuersault's mother has died and he travels to the nursing home she lived in to see to her funeral. Afterward, he returns to his normal life, normal job, and normal pursuits. He strikes up a relationship with a young woman and befriends a shady man who invites him to the beach. During this trip, a seemingly random encounter with some Arab men leads to murder, and Meursault finds himself in jail awaiting trial.

The crux of the novel is Meursault's realization of the absurdity of life and his belief that the end is the end and nothing that happens really matters. His belief system and seeming lack of remorse or concern about his own fate paints him in an unflattering light before the members of the judicial system. Still, it is not the crime he has committed that condemns him in society's eyes; rather it is his ambivalence towards the death of his mother that society cannot understand or allow to go unpunished.

The version of The Stranger I read is not the classic English translation from Gilbert, but an American translation from Matthew Ward that appeared in 1988. Camus had written that he had intended The Stranger to be written in the 'American' style of James Cain or Dashiell Hammett with short compact sentences and an overtone of though guy swagger. Ward's translation attempts to capture this style, and for me, is successful.

The Stranger is a quick read for a rainy day. I'd also recommend The Plague by Camus.