Just finished reading pic related and wanted to discuss it. Never read a book so quickly, having picked it up today and finished not 15 minutes ago. What do you guys think of it? Are there themes that are often overlooked you think I should know?
>>8103674
He killed the arab in "the heat of the moment"
It's often looked down on on /lit/ because it's accessible, so you probably won't see much worthwhile discussion. I kinda liked it, it did exactly what Camus set out to do, which is just give a glimpse into how a man aware of absurdity lives with it. The only other Camus I've read is The Plague, and I enjoyed that one a lot more. It has an underlying hope that was absent in The Stranger and seems to make the book a lot more emotional. I suggest that next.
>>8103674
I first read the book when I was 17 and I can admit that I didn't get some parts of it myself. I'm hearing Bohemian Rhapsody and I can imagine the song applying to this book.
>>8103690
that's a real knee-slapper my dude
>>8103674
Never seen that book cover. Looks like they're trying to appeal to teenagers or something. Anyway, I read it in highschool and my teacher forcefed me the meaning of it. Then I wrote an over-passionate bullshit essay on its themes and got an easy A, at least for the essay. Anyway, the book's good, but people on this board don't like it because they don't like admitting that they were immature once and that they once dealt with existential crises.
>>8103724
Yea I really don't like the cover, it's the one I bought but they were no alternatives and I didn't care enough to order online just for the cover
I read this about 6th months ago and i'm not sure if I was just already jaded with existentialism or just didn't understand the book.
>>8103855
exactly this
I read it last year around this time, and I also went through it faster than any other book I've read before. Same cover too.
Looking back, if there's one part I didn't 'get', it was that Arab woman who Meursault followed to a restaurant, the same one that later appears at his trial. I don't think she ever said a word, and as far as I can tell, she had no bearing on the plot, but Meursault noticed her and she reoccurred. I don't know why.
>>8103705
Meursault is a nihilist
This book convinced me that I am a sociopath.
>>8104204
Yea I didn't understand her either, she was at the trial but was never called to witness and only served the purpose of staring at Mersault
>>8103674
Pretty sure he was autistic (the main character, although Camus might have been too, I don't really know though).
I think the reason people look down on it is because the whole philosophy is like "dude, do whatever you want man, nothing really matters, like, even if you just want to shoot someone for no reason."
I really don't know if people can actually live their lives this way, but if someone does, then the last thing they are going to care about is if their philosophy is considered "entry level" or not.
Don't write it off, but do explore other philosophies because there are better ones out there (imhotbqhwufp).
>>8104834
You need to re-read the last few pages of that book. The entire novel culminates in Meurault moving from nihilism to absurdism, and he reaches that in his last few pages. The book is not just about a man who realizes life is objectively meaningless; at the moment of his death he is no longer so detached but fiercely moved. Why? Because he sees the meaning his own meaningless actions create: he feels the rage of the crowd for his apathy; he creates a response to his nihilism. Meursault is, in my eyes, effectively Camus's idea or metaphor of the universe - an uncaring, impersonal figure that creates pain arbitrarily, killing others like dice. At just that level, the book would be nothing specia but there's some nuance to it, an awareness of the difference between objective meaninglessness and subjective responses. This is key as Camus's philosophy is entirely in responding to Mersault and events like the Plague, and his response is very simple: revolt. Mersault inspire revolt in the anger of people towards him, and becomes also a figure of revolt by taking joy in it. When life is absurd, impossible to work out, then any reaction to it is valid also. What Camus lays out is a philosophy of total optimism, and the book crystallizes that in the most brilliant last pages.
>>8103674
what the hell is that cover lmao
>>8104695
nice watered-down buzzword
>>8104834
>autism
there's that word again
>>8105328
I actually really like that analysis
>>8103855
I'm pretty sure a decent amount of people fall into this category.
>>8105328
Wow, pretty cool actually. I never really put that much thought into that book because it was "high-school tier," but I really liked that view on the ending.
It probably would have been a lot more clear if I looked into his other books, something I neglected to do for the same reason as above.
