Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1951683 in Books
• Published on: 2000-12-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 168 pages

Synopsis
Provides analyses of Camus's "The Stranger" by Jean-Paul Sartre, William M. Manly, Stephen E. Bonner, and other scholars and writers.

Customer Reviews

The Outsider (L'Etranger)
The Anti-hero Meursault chooses not to subscribes to a world sensationalised by feelings and emotions. He is his own person, and does not need to be defined by "others" sense of normality. His lack of grief, I feel, is not a display of his distachement, but a positive example of self-awarness, assurance,and a refusal to dwell on past events. Meursault is a man of the present, for which he is reproached. It's debatable that his lack of concern over his mother has undertones of an displaced oedipus complex contributing to the sucessive chain of events. I feel Meursalts fate was sealed from the first paragraph "mother dies today, or maybe yesterday, I don't know". In my opinion, to be desentitised does not mean a lack of feeling, as there is a great difficulty to express emotions for events which are envitable and wholly natural regardless of the curcumstrance. For our own sake, we have to believe that everything we do has ultimate significance and meaning, eventhough it forces us to adapted to a world, which is largely predestine dues to rules and norms. We hope that we do not become mechanical in our choices and re-actions.

This story is an compelling positive example of living life without regret, and rejecting a life of perpetual incarnation through conformist dogma.
In the American foreword, Camus, eludes that that Mersaults biggest crime was his refusal to lie. In a society which values the truth above all, it is daunting to accept, that we are most conforted by tinted versions of the truth, so we can rationalise without a second thought.
Whoever said you are what you feeling, may have had a point!

I highly suggest it
One of the greatest aspects of this book is that it challenges the reader to step outside of the proverbial box that is society. I am Catholic-devout, and had a hard time accepting the futility of life presented in this book. Having to read this book for a literature class, I was challenged to defend my faith against the onslought of a very effective representation of Existentialist ideals. I highly enjoyed the surface story, but took the bulk of my pleasure from unravelling the subtle symblism, and highly religious undertones. (Ex. The way that the main character was prosecuted reminded me of a twisted version of Judgement Day) By the end of the book, my own personal faith was vindicated that much more. I can't wait to read it again.

Meursault is no hero, but he is a martyr.
I picked up the book because I knew the author was an existentialist. When I read the book, I was shaken to my core; it was nearly as if I was looking into a mirror. Meursault is completely honest nearly all the time, is amiable enough, and accepts the absurdity and futility of life. That he is unmoved by the emotions that most people feel is not his fault, and that he will not fake them is to his credit; I am not so honest. When he (arguably) accidentally kills in a moment of panic, he becomes a victim of xenophobia, and is killed because he will not lie or pretend to have sensibilities that most people have the sense to fake. This book is depressing, I think, but this archetypical existentialist character has a lot to teach if one can understand his motivations--or lack thereof.
Incidentally, I highly recommend _The Plague_ as a second course; I haven't finished it yet, but it appears to show another archtypical existentialist behaving in a more life-affirming way--which may help me and anyone else who finds the absurd tedium of life pointless and tiresome.