The Stranger by Albert Camus Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Stranger
Book Review: 'The Killing Of An Arab'
Summary: 5 Stars
The book that inspired the debut single from seminal British band 'The Cure,' Albert Camus' 'The Stranger' is a great primer for anyone at all interested in the literary context of this controversial song. The story of Meursault is a harrowing one, highly intellectual and thought provoking. A great introduction to Existentialism as well as an expansive literary work, Camus' `The Stranger' will intrigue generations to come. Highly Recommended.Book Review: 'de-philosophise' it
Summary: 3 Stars
Remove this book from the constraints of the ideological paradigm it has been placed in, either by its authour, or by subsequent intellectuals or book lovers, and see it as a story that happens every day amongst and between people in this modern world. Conformity, guilt before the trial, assumptions and presumptions, the multifacted nature of an action- no one truth but rather dependant on the angle and experience of the observer. This is what Camus's book offers to the modern reality. There is no discernable hero in this book- either one admires the main character for the 'realness' and truth of his actions and the envious unblemished connection that exists between his feelings and his words and deeds; or one pities him for not being able or willing to play the game of human and societal expectation. For in the end he is but the only one that really admires his propensity for raw honesty and individualism- or is he even capable of that?
In the end he is not able to save himself from the prison sentence and is it not an even more horrendous act to be publicly castigated for a misread crime, than to somewhat compromise ones ideals and 'play the game' in an effort to be saved- to be free? Especially in this case where the main character's actions and apparent amoral position seems to be less of an honourable position and more the reality of a tired -almost broken -man.
Maybe something was lost in the translation but I was not as moved by this book as I anticipated. Despite its existentialist label, it would still have been good for the book to leave you with some semblance of feeling that you had to search to find hidden meanings- the prose is simple (though not simplistic), and very transparent- but as i said- I think i may have expected a bit more.
Book Review: *The* embodiment of both my emotions and philosophy
Summary: 5 Stars
One of the very, very few literary works I'd read, in or outside of class, that has significantly changed how I view the world. Or, perhaps, this is inaccurate, for it seems as if I've always viewed the world from a vaguely existentialist perspective but have been unable to articulate it - that feeling of being trapped inside my mind with a ceaseless internalized monologue, of having no "identity," only continuous reactions to events - before reading the book. Only after having read it, however, can I truly appreciate or even notice the amazing phenomenon of being conscious. That I am not strictly defined or limited by any master plan, that, really, nothing else exists except that internal monologue, seems much more miraculous and much more comforting than any religion.Book Review: .
Summary: 4 Stars
I agree with the reviewer a few back who says that there is better existentialism to be found, and that the reading of Crime and Punishment is a bigger and more rewarding experience. But a part of Camus' appeal is his simplicity and straight-forwardness, and the fact that he does not soak his narrative in philosophy. They are philosophical stories, in a sense, but the philosophy is left in the background, the subtext, only surfacing to the forefront at key, carefully controlled moments. I admire Camus for his restraint and aesthetic tactfulness. However, at the same time I'd like to point out that I also think he's sometimes grossly overrated. Aesthetic restraint and the ability to struture a story evenly are only worth so much. Big-time Camus fans seem to enjoy knocking Sartre; but sometimes flaws, personal idiosyncracies, and a certain sense of admittedly pseudo-intellectual adventure can actually make a book more rewarding and human. Camus' deliberate sterility of style is something I can respect, and certainly something I find interesting, but it isn't necessarily the most commendable literary trait in the world.Book Review: 29-year-old Albert Camus's seminal contribution to modern literature
Summary: 5 Stars
The edition of THE STRANGER I own is an old Vintage paperback, with a "V-2" Vintage designation in the lower-left corner and a $1.25 price tag in the lower-right corner. The translator is Gilbert Stuart, not Matthew Ward.
This is the third or fourth time I have read the Stuart translation of THE STRANGER. (I really don't care which translation is better; by now the Stuart one is for me definitive.) When I first read THE STRANGER, in my teens, it was obligatory reading for the young aspiring intellectual and I am sure that my response to it was heavily influenced by what I understood to be the received wisdom. When I read it about ten years ago, I was put off by the self-centered indifference of Meursault, and I tended to think the novel was intellectually puerile. (For years, after all, I had been hearing that Camus was over-rated.) Now, frankly, I am impressed by it. The tale is deceptively simple, yet upon analysis, the novel becomes surprisingly complex; it is almost mythical in its potential interpretations and "messages".
As a parenthetical, I also am now struck by how colonial the attitude of the novel is. Not only do the Arabs appear in stereotype as the menacing "Other" and not only does Meursault more or less cold-bloodedly murder one. But - something that hadn't registered on me before - not one Arab is called as a witness at Meursault's trial. In pre-WWII French Algeria, the Arabs were indeed a sub-class, part of the fauna of the territory, and Meursault truly is sentenced to death for not displaying conventional grief upon the death of his mother rather than for shooting a human being on a stiflingly hot, blindingly sunny beach.
Although THE STRANGER is not a perfect novel, it is somewhat astonishing to realize that it is the work of a 29-year-old, and it need not give anyone pause to see it listed as one of the seminal works of literature of the 20th Century. Indeed, it is one of those books that might profitably be read every 15 years or so, to help the reader judge how he is coming to terms with his place in the universe.