Why is this novel so highly regarded? I just read it and I don't see all the hype. It wasn't necessarily bad, but it wasn't that good either.
Anyone care to explain?
>>8124707
I thought the same thing OP. Didn't see the big deal. Couldn't tell if I was just already jaded with existentialism or I just didn't understand the book.
Is this a joke?
Did you not understand the book?Are YOU The Stranger?
You must be Algerian. It's not for (You)
>>8124707
I personally loved it.
>>8124707
The killing of the Arab was just unasked for and never really explained. Nothing he had done previous to that point explained him murdering someone innocent like that. Was the whole book decided by something as trivial as sunstroke?
I sat through a lecture on Camus' The Myth of Sisyphus so I'm thinking that really took away the whole intro to absurdism that I would've gotten had I read the book prior.
>>8124743
Well he had the gun and the Arab raised the knife to him, reflecting sunlight towards his eyes(at least that's how I remember it)
It did come out of nowhere for sure though.
It sets up the whole absurdist philosophy in a way
The character gets fucked by stupid shit like his mom dying and his emotional coldness
>>8124707
You should have a good grasp on absurdism and The Myth of Sisyphus before reading The Stranger; its beauty and grace mostly lies in its subtle elucidation of Camus's philosophy. Think of it as the concentration of his entire thought into a deceptively simple and highly entertaining fable. You can reread it dozens of different times from dozens of different angles and always find a new insight or skillfully placed detail. I probably appreciate it more for its craftsmanship than its philosophy.
>>8124743
>The killing of the Arab was just unasked for and never really explained. Nothing he had done previous to that point explained him murdering someone innocent like that.
That's precisely the point though. Mersault was completely detached from emotion, logic, and morality, so the killing was just another banal and purposeless act to him. The reader instinctively tries to find meaning in his arbitrary murder of another human being and fails--it's absurd. Now what? How do we live when the building blocks of civilization signify nothing?
