The Outsider
Albert Camus
1942
Around 160 pages
I had read this before, but hadn't put together that this was published in Nazi Occupation France. I guess with gams like mine, you don't get the brains too. The Occupation authorities allowed it, as they didn't feel there was anything offensive in it. So this has the Nazi stamp of approval.
Writers sure do like writing about sociopaths murdering people lately. Is there something they are trying to tell us? This time our killer is Meursault, who begins the novel by not crying at his mother's funeral. From there, he only becomes more unfeeling, which ultimately culminates in violence. Part Two deals with the aftermath and his imprisonment.
So this was enjoyable, even if I don't find violent emotionally numb males quite as fascinating as men in the 1940s did. I definitely enjoyed the second half more, which was more mediative and contained interesting religious discourse.
Albert Camus has never been a favorite of mine, but maybe our belligerent sexual tension will find some release through this List.
RATING: ***--
Interesting Facts:
The Stranger's first edition consisted of only 4,400 copies, which was so few that it could not be a best-seller.
Referenced in passing in Camus' later novel, The Plague.
UP NEXT: Go Down, Moses by William Faulkner. Noooooo. No.
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