Wednesday, January 1, 1992

Albert Camus' The Stranger published 50 years ago this year

First posted 7/5/2020.

The Stranger (L’Etranger) (aka The Outsider)

Albert Camus

First Publication: 1942


Category: fiction


Sales: 10 million

Accolades (click on badges to see full lists):

About the Book:

“Through the story of an ordinary man unwittingly drawn into a senseless murder on an Algerian beach, Camus explored what he termed ‘the nakedness of man faced with the absurd.’” AZ

L’Etranger (aka The Stranger) “has the force and fascination of myth. The outwardly simple narrative of an office clerk,” BN “a young Algerian named Meursault kills a man,” LT “an Arab, ‘a cause du soleil,’ and finds himself condemned to death for moral insensibility.” BN

Meursault’s “subsequent imprisonment and trial are puzzling and absurd. The apparently amoral Meursault – who puts little stock in ideas like love and God--seems to be on trial less for his murderous actions, and more for what the authorities believe is his deficient character.” LT

In Camus’ hands, the story “becomes…a powerful image of modern man's impatience before Christian philosophy and conventional social and sexual values.” BN


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