Weeks 1 and 2: Albert Camus' "The Stranger" (1942)

We'll start our semester with our first Nobel Laureate: novelist, philosopher, journalist, and playwright Albert Camus (1913–1960). Born in French Algeria to French and Spanish parents, his early years were marked by poverty, which fostered a sense of sympathy to the plight of the region's colonial subjects. Throughout his life he'd advocate for greater equality for native Algerians though he stopped short of supporting total independence during the Algerian War of the mid-50s and early-60s. 

This colonial dichotomy is also central to the plot of L'Étranger (The Stranger, sometimes translated as The Outsider) — Camus' first novel, published in France in 1942, and first translated into English in 1946 (we'll be reading Matthew Ward's 1989 translation) — which hinges on two key events: the death of Meursault the protagonist's mother, and his subsequent killing of an Arab shortly thereafter. While this might seem overly simple, it's anything but, largely due to the labyrinthine stream-of-consciousness nature of Meursault's first-person perspective and the absurd nature of his existence within its various contexts. While this philosophy is sometimes labeled as existentialist — i.e. exploring the challenges and responsibilities inherent to our having free will and self-determination — Camus was quick to dismiss any association with that movement, and even his youthful fervor for absurdism would fade after the publication of The Stranger and The Myth of Sisyphus (his great treatise on the question of suicide), both in 1942.

Here's how our three days with The Stranger will break down:

• Wed. August 23: translator's note and part 1, ch. 1–4
• Fri. August 25: part 1, ch. 5–part 2, ch. 2
• Mon. August 28: part 2, ch. 3–5

And here are a few supplemental resources that might of interest:

• Nicola Chiaramonte's 1946 review of the novel in The New Republic: [link]
• Claire Messud reviews Sandra Smith's recent translation of the novel in The New York Review of Books: [link]
• Alice Kaplan, "L’Étranger – Stranger Than Fiction" in The Guardian: [link]
• Ryan Bloom, "Lost in Translation: What the First Line of The Stranger Should Be" in The New Yorker: [link]
• Aaron Gwyn, "Albert Camus' Poker-Faced Stranger Became A Much Needed Friend" on NPR: [link]