I still want to shake him because I tend to act and not stay put when something happens. My second reading is more educated, I suppose. Teenagers are always hit hard by unfairness. I remember I wanted to shake Meursault up, to yell at him and push him to react, to force him to take action and do something to save himself. When I first read L’Etranger, it stayed with me for the story, its absurd ending and the unfairness of it.

I’m not qualified for that and honestly, what could I bring to what academics have already written about it? I’d rather discuss my response to it. He also refuses to lie and express feelings or opinions that he doesn’t feel or think. He’s an outsider because he refuses to obey to society’s rules. He’s adrift, nothing makes sense and is worth fighting for. He spends time with his neighbor who openly asks him to be his buddy, he acquiesces without conviction. He’s not in love with Marie, he likes her well enough but he wouldn’t be affected by her leaving him. He enjoys his quotidian but wouldn’t fight for it. He glides through life, letting people around him leading the way. The first part of the book is about Meursault’s life before his crime and the second part is about his imprisonment and his trial. Meursault’s life changes for the worst when he kills an Arab on the beach on a hot Sunday.

He has a liaison with Marie, goes to the beach with her and gets to know his neighbor Raymond. He’s reliable enough and his boss is thinking about sending him to the new office in Paris. He works in an office in a shipping company. The heat is blinding and staggering.īack in Algiers, Meursault resumes his everyday life. His mother was in an old home when she died, and the first chapters describe his going to the home and attending the funeral. Meursault is a young bachelor living in Algiers during the French colonization. Now it’s my daughter’s turn to read it and I decided to read it along with her.įor those who haven’t read this stunning novella by Albert Camus, it opens with some of the most famous sentences of French literature.

I was fourteen when I read it and I remember that I enjoyed it despite studying it in class. Like a lot of French teenagers, I studied L’Etranger in school.

I’ll stick to the French title to keep everyone happy even if I think that The Outsider is a better title. Preamble: I know that L’Etranger by Albert Camus has been translated into The Outsider or The Stranger. The Outsider / The Stranger by Albert Camus (1942) Original French title: L’Etranger.

The stranger outsider