The Weaver Reads reviewed The Stranger by Albert Camus
Goodreads Review of The Stranger
5 stars
"Do you have any defense, monsieur?"
"Wallah the sun made me kill him wallah."
Hardcover, 171 pages
French language
Published July 15, 1989 by Gallimard.
L'Étranger
by Albert Camus
4 stars
(281 reviews)
L'Étranger is a 1942 novella by French author Albert Camus. Its theme and outlook are often cited as examples of Camus' philosophy, absurdism coupled with existentialism, though Camus personally rejected the latter label.The title character is Meursault, an indifferent French Algerian described as "a citizen of France domiciled in North Africa, a man of the Mediterranean, an homme du midi yet one who hardly partakes of the traditional Mediterranean culture." He attends his mother's funeral. Weeks later, he kills an Arab man in French Algiers, who was involved in a conflict with one of Meursault's neighbors. Meursault is tried and sentenced to death. The story is divided into two parts, presenting Meursault's first-person narrative view before and after the murder, respectively. In January 1955, Camus wrote this:
I summarized The Stranger a long time ago, with a remark I admit was highly paradoxical: "In our society any man who does …
L'Étranger is a 1942 novella by French author Albert Camus. Its theme and outlook are often cited as examples of Camus' philosophy, absurdism coupled with existentialism, though Camus personally rejected the latter label.The title character is Meursault, an indifferent French Algerian described as "a citizen of France domiciled in North Africa, a man of the Mediterranean, an homme du midi yet one who hardly partakes of the traditional Mediterranean culture." He attends his mother's funeral. Weeks later, he kills an Arab man in French Algiers, who was involved in a conflict with one of Meursault's neighbors. Meursault is tried and sentenced to death. The story is divided into two parts, presenting Meursault's first-person narrative view before and after the murder, respectively. In January 1955, Camus wrote this:
I summarized The Stranger a long time ago, with a remark I admit was highly paradoxical: "In our society any man who does not weep at his mother's funeral runs the risk of being sentenced to death." I only meant that the hero of my book is condemned because he does not play the game. The Stranger's first edition consisted of only 4,400 copies, which was so few that it could not be a best-seller. Since the novella was published during the Nazi occupation of France, there was a possibility that the Propaganda-Staffel would censor it, but a representative of the Occupation authorities felt it contained nothing damaging to their cause, so it was published without omissions. However, the novel was well received in anti-Nazi circles in addition to Jean-Paul Sartre's article "Explication de L'Étranger".Translated four times into English, and also into numerous other languages, the novel has long been considered a classic of 20th-century literature. Le Monde ranks it as number one on its 100 Books of the Century. The novel was twice adapted as films: Lo Straniero (1967) (Italian) by Luchino Visconti and Yazgı (2001, Fate) by Zeki Demirkubuz (Turkish).
Dee reviewed The Stranger by Albert Camus
Review of 'The Stranger' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Thank you to the stranger trying to get to Stepney Green from Liverpool st. last year who reminded me I’ve been neglecting this read.
Artem reviewed The Stranger by Albert Camus
Hayatının Anlamı
3 stars
Absurdism'i hikaye şeklinde ele alan bu kitap, hayatın anlamını aramanın gereksizliğine her yönden atıfta bulunuyor.
intothebeans reviewed The Stranger by Albert Camus
My Intro to Philosophy
5 stars
I read this book my senior year of high school, and it is the book that got me into philosophy. Every time I revisit the book I comprehend its place in Camus's philosophy more and more.
bookmarc reviewed Der Fremde by Albert Camus
Review of 'Der Fremde' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
Maybe reading it in German didn’t help but boy was this narrator unbearable. A few interesting moments and thoughts were there but overall this felt like more of a chore.
Santhosh Guru reviewed The Stranger by Albert Camus
Review of 'The Stranger' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
This was a mega boring one. I had plough thru to complete it.
coldwave@book.dansmonorage.blue reviewed The Stranger by Albert Camus
don't care
I read this for French practice. It did do its job of being simple in language and short, while being a whole serious "classic" book for adults.
I'm not the type of person for philosophical debates. I know the answers and/or don't care. You shoot someone for no reason -> you go to jail so that you don't do it again. I don't have time for what exactly what might be wrong with this guy or whether he loves his mother.
But maybe I missed the point because I don't even speak French?
ManyRoads reviewed The Stranger by Albert Camus
Review of 'The Stranger' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
An interesting, albeit depressing philosophical, look at the 'life' of a sociopath...
greeny reviewed Der Fremde by Albert Camus
Review of 'Der Fremde' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
A masterpiece.
Zelanator reviewed The Stranger by Albert Camus
Review of 'The Stranger' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
I found this to be an enlightening piece of nihilist fiction. I would be remiss if I wrote an extended review of this book. Suffice it to say that nothing really matters. The sooner that one opens their heart to the “benign indifference of the universe,” the sooner one can experience some modicum of happiness in life.
🍄🌈🎮💻🚲🥓🎃💀🏴🛻🇺🇸 reviewed The Outsider by Albert Camus
Review of 'The Outsider' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
As a misanthrope, this book is terrifying.
geirertzgaard reviewed The Outsider by Albert Camus
Review of 'The Outsider' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
111 sider uten et overflødig ord, banal naivitet tilsynelatende, men alt henger sammen, hver handling og hvert ord. Side 91:
"I have never truly been able to regret anything. I was always preoccupied by what was about to happen, either today or tomorrow. "
Som om det å ikke ha et forhold til fortiden gjør oss ute av stand til å tenke rettferdighet.
anicetus reviewed The Stranger by Albert Camus
Review of 'The Stranger' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Wonderful take with a very memorable first paragraph.
GenericHero reviewed The Stranger by Albert Camus
Review of 'The Stranger' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
I loved Arthur Meursault and loved the ending as well.
greeny reviewed The Stranger by Albert Camus
Review of 'The Stranger' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Very interesting book indeed. In its style it heavily reminded me at Knut Hamsuns 'Hunger' and works of Kafka. While in 'Hunger' the narrator fights against its destiny and tries to solve his issues, the main person from 'The Stranger' does not really mind to interact with his environment or tries to influence it in the best way possible. Instead, he accepts his fortune and acts in the most practical way possible. I had the feeling, that he is only concerned about the 'now' and not about yesterday or tomorrow. For instance, when his mother died it hadn't any great impact on him at all. At the funeral he wasn't sorry or in pain. It was just a think that needed to happen at some point. He just gets used to it, as he always get to everything. When his neighbour beats his dog, he doesn't care for the dog. …
Very interesting book indeed. In its style it heavily reminded me at Knut Hamsuns 'Hunger' and works of Kafka. While in 'Hunger' the narrator fights against its destiny and tries to solve his issues, the main person from 'The Stranger' does not really mind to interact with his environment or tries to influence it in the best way possible. Instead, he accepts his fortune and acts in the most practical way possible. I had the feeling, that he is only concerned about the 'now' and not about yesterday or tomorrow. For instance, when his mother died it hadn't any great impact on him at all. At the funeral he wasn't sorry or in pain. It was just a think that needed to happen at some point. He just gets used to it, as he always get to everything. When his neighbour beats his dog, he doesn't care for the dog. When his other neighbour wants to take revenge on a woman because of some minor incidents, he does not argue against it, neither does he really agree with him because of a moral basis. Instead he just follows the arguments of his neighbour and then approves that it makes sense on some level.
Another important theme in this book is judgement of us. By which standards we use to judge other people and what they are based on. Killing an arab is not that big of a deal for a white man, if you show some sorrow. Not being sad on your mothers funeral or don't believing in god when facing the death, on the other hand, are socially not accepted.
I think many would call this book a modern classic, and i can understand why.
