Book Review: The Stranger by Albert Camus

            At his mother’s funeral, a young Frenchman living in Algiers shows little emotion. This is not the only occurrence in which he does not express genuine human feeling; in fact, Meursault seems to react indifferently to the entire world around him. Meursault is the fictional manifestation of author Albert Camus’s philosophy of the “absurd.” In addition to the plot of the novel, absurdism, the feeling man has when attempting to fabricate order in an irrational universe, is perceived through rhetorical features throughout the novel. Camus did admit using an “American method” in writing The Stranger, especially in the first half of the book: the short, precise sentences and the description of a character who lives without consciousness mirrors the literary style that Hemingway, Dos Passos, Faulkner, Cain, and others used during the time. However, Camus’s originality stems from the connection between himself, Meursault, and his writing that is made possible with his creative writing style.

            While complex vocabulary is not apparent, Camus’s use of meticulous descriptions creates expressiveness. His writing correlates with the character development of Meursault: like all the other creatures on the planet, Meursault has physical needs, pains, and desires. Meursault is subject to his physical surroundings, and this can be seen with the weather that dictates his actions. Camus conveys this message with ornate language that is used when Meursault is most affected by the weather. For example, Camus’s language intensifies through the use of personification of the sun – “I felt a blast of its hot breath strike my face” -- as the novel reaches its climax, which contrasts with the spare, simple descriptions that Meursault usually offers (57).

            I am content with my choice for the Independent Study unit, as The Stranger proved to be extremely interesting. Although superficially short, this book had a fast variety of elements that I analyzed. The most difficult task in reading this book was to understand the concept of absurdism laid out by Camus (Camus’s most notable works containing this philosophy are The Stranger and his lyrical essay, The Myth of Sisyphus). I believe that every reader has something to take away from this book: as Meursault reaches his revelation, the reader gains a wider perception in the meaning of life, or at least, what Camus made it out to be.

            Camus wrote The Stranger originally as L’Etranger in French. For many years, the only translation available to English speakers was Stuart Gilber’s “Britannic” rendering. Although Matthew Ward did an excellent job translating the novel for American readers and achieves a closer translation to what Camus wrote as opposed to what he meant, I plan to read the original version in French. As explained in some of my annotations on the physical copy of the book, I believe that some of Camus’s writing is lost in translation. Having the benefits of a trilingual (refer to my researched position FRQ), I hope to be able to gain further insight to Camus’s mind by reading the original version.