The Strange Stranger

I took this opportunity to read The Stranger in the original French. It was still very strange. Maybe it was all my English Lit classes in high school, but I kept asking myself "who is the stranger?" Does it refer to the Arab killed on the beach? Or does it refer to M. Mersault? If it does refer to Mersault, who is he a stranger to? To the court, to society, or to himself? I think he is a stranger to himself. The only opinion or attitude that he clings to is that he has no regret for killing. How many times throughout the book did he say "ca m'est egal?", or "I don't care." Do you want to get married? I don't care. Do you want to write this letter for me? I don't care. I was SOOOO frustrated with his attitude of "I don't care." Coupled with "I don't care" was his desire to make others happy or understand him. He had no part in what his friend, Raymond, was doing, but Mersault states several times that he did things to make Raymond happy.

I was surprised to read that "[a]lthough he is often associated with existentialism, Camus preferred to be known as a man and a thinker, rather than as a member of a school or ideology. He preferred persons over ideas. In an interview in 1945, Camus rejected any ideological associations: “No, I am not an existentialist.. Sartre and I are always surprised to see our names linked....”

The writing the "L'etranger" seemed very choppy: (I'm translating) "I ate fast and had coffee. Then I went home and slept a little bit...I wanted to smoke. It was late." Just factual statements, emphasizing the lack of emotion.

How odd is his line after killing the Arab (again, translating): "I understood that I had destroyed the balance of the day." Just weird. I did mark several pages that either had beautiful writing, or just strange occurrences.

I like how Camus described the friend or Mersault's mom at the beginning - who was crying but his face was so wrinkled, tears couldn't flow down. Or, at that fatal beach how the sun breaks into shards when hitting the sand. Just fascinating.

There's a whole paragraph that I found interesting, when Mersault is in prison: "I didn't understand why I was deprived of [smoking]. Later I understood that this was part of punishment. But at this moment I was used to not smoking, so this punishment no longer was punishment for me."

I didn't feel sorry for the protagonist - I was just confused that he couldn't understand what was going on around him. I'm all for being a non-conformist, being yourself, being original, but never to the extent that morals and laws no longer pertain to me.

My review is probably as fractured as the book. I can't say I liked it, but I'm glad Danielle chose it. Thanks!!