Introduction to The Stranger

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Introduction to The Stranger

• by Albert Camus

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Albert Camus(1913-1960)

• Born in Algiers
• Father killed at the Battle of the Marne 1914
• Mother went to work as a cleaning lady in Algiers
• Raised by mother and grandmother in poverty
• Attended college on scholarship
• Moved to Paris
• Wrote his first novel, The Stranger, in 1939

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About the Author

• Began writing in 1932, at the age of 19
• Married at 20
• Divorced at 21
• Joined the Communist Party for about 3 years
• Suffered a great disappointment in 1938 when he
  could not pass the medical examination
  (tuberculosis) required for him to continue his
  government-funded studies at the university,
  where he was studying philosophy and hoping to
  become a full professor

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• Camus turned to a career in journalism
• Wrote social-justice pieces for a left-wing
  newspaper
• Publication was soon suppressed by Algerian
  authorities for its pro-Arab slant
• In 1940, Camus moved to Paris and began working
  for a daily newspaper
• Married again that year Camus was very vocal
  about his disapproval of the institution of
  marriage, and this marriage lasted only 5 years
• Wrote and edited Combat, an underground
  Resistance newspaper published during the Nazi
  occupation of France.

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• The Stranger and The Myth of Sisyphus were
  published in 1942, bringing Camus almost instant
  fame.
• Followed numerous other novels
• Camus received the Nobel Prize for Literature in
  1957.
• Camus died in an automobile accident in 1960
• The First Man an autobiographical novel was
  in progress (released in 1995.)

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Where is Algeria?
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Absurdism Camus

• How it all relates to Camus life
• 20 when Hitlers rise to power began in 1933
• Spent his 20s watching
• escalation of World War II
• establishment of concentration camps
• occupation of France
• 31 when Paris was liberated
• then witnessed Communist takeovers all over
  Europe and violent conflict in Algeria
• As a philosopher, intellectual, and artist, Camus
  tried to make
• sense of the turbulent times through which he
  lived.

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About the Title -- The Stranger

• Originally written by Camus in French.
• Titled LEtranger -- the literal English
  translation is the stranger
• English translation -- The Outsider (published
  in 1946)
• What connotations do stranger and outsider
  have for you?
• Do they seem synonymous?
• How about alien, foreigner, or intruder
• (synonyms for stranger in Rogets Thesaurus)

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About the Setting

• Setting -- French Algeria in North Africa
• Climate -- Tropical (particularly important to
  the story)
• Highest temperature ever recorded 136 degrees
• What associations to you have with tropical
  climates and intense heat and sun?
• What do you imagine it is like to walk along a
  tropical beach, the bright sunlight glaring off
  the water and sand?

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The Antihero

• Instead of manifesting dignity, power, and
  heroism in the face of fate
• Is a protagonist whose character is at least
  conspicuously contrary to that of the archetypal
  hero and is, in some instances, its antithesis.
• HINT Who are some of the stereotypical heroes
  we have read about?

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• Odysseus
• Julius Caesar
• Jay Gatsby
• Hamlet