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The Stranger by Albert Camus
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The Stranger (edition 1989)

by Albert Camus, Matthew Ward (Translator)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingConversations / Mentions
35,35350170 (3.94)1 / 753
When a young Algerian named Meursault kills a man, his subsequent imprisonment and trial are puzzling and absurd. The apparently amoral Meursault--who puts little stock in ideas like love and God--seems to be on trial less for his murderous actions, and more for what the authorities believe is his deficient character.… (more)
Member:theflyingbrick
Title:The Stranger
Authors:Albert Camus
Other authors:Matthew Ward (Translator)
Info:Vintage (1989), Paperback, 144 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:
Tags:Fiction

Work Information

The Stranger by Albert Camus

  1. 331
    The Trial by Franz Kafka (chrisharpe, DLSmithies)
    DLSmithies: Two protagonists on trial without really understanding what they're being accused of - it's just a question of degree.
  2. 231
    Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (chrisharpe, DLSmithies, edelpao)
    DLSmithies: A compare-and-contrast exercise - Raskolnikov is all nervous energy and hypertension, whereas Meursault is detatched, calm, and won't pretend to feel remorse. Two masterpieces.
  3. 80
    The Meursault Investigation by Kamel Daoud (Philosofiction, JuliaMaria, kjuliff, kjuliff)
    JuliaMaria: Meursault ist der Protagonist in dem existentialistischen Roman "Der Fremde", auf den sich Daoud in seiner Gegendarstellung bezieht.
  4. 104
    A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess (SanctiSpiritus)
  5. 62
    No Exit / Dirty Hands / The Flies / The Respectful Prostitute by Jean-Paul Sartre (HollyMS)
    HollyMS: I read both works in French class. Though Albert Camus denied being an existentialist, both L'Étranger (The Stranger) and Huis Clos (No Exit) have some common themes and are among some of the most important 20th century French works of literature.
  6. 95
    Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre (roby72, kjuliff)
    kjuliff: Existentialism
  7. 40
    The Man Who Watched Trains Go By by Georges Simenon (thorold)
    thorold: Respectable bourgeois discovers absurdity of life and commits motiveless crime.
  8. 41
    The Fall by Albert Camus (chrisharpe)
  9. 30
    Barabbas by Pär Lagerkvist (Troddel)
  10. 41
    Whatever by Michel Houellebecq (sanddancer)
  11. 30
    No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre (rretzler)
  12. 10
    She Came to Stay by Simone de Beauvoir (JuliaMaria)
  13. 00
    The Pigeon by Patrick Süskind (P_S_Patrick)
    P_S_Patrick: Short, deeply existentialist novels of literary character.
  14. 00
    Homesick for Another World by Ottessa Moshfegh (j_aroche)
    j_aroche: If you ever feel like an alien in the wrong planet.
  15. 00
    The Execution: A Novel by Hugo Wilcken (sparemethecensor)
    sparemethecensor: Similar in style, theme, narration and execution. The Execution is a more modern version of the tale.
  16. 11
    The Family of Pascual Duarte by Camilo José Cela (thatguyzero)
  17. 00
    The Adversary: A True Story of Monstrous Deception by Emmanuel Carrère (bertilak)
  18. 01
    Cosmos by Witold Gombrowicz (Bitter_Grace)
  19. 13
    At the Existentialist Café: Freedom, Being, and Apricot Cocktails with Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Albert Camus, Martin Heidegger, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Others by Sarah Bakewell (JuliaMaria)
  20. 14
    The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick by Peter Handke (lewbs)

(see all 23 recommendations)

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» See also 753 mentions

English (439)  Spanish (11)  French (10)  Italian (10)  Dutch (5)  German (3)  Finnish (2)  Danish (2)  Portuguese (2)  Catalan (2)  Portuguese (Portugal) (2)  Portuguese (Brazil) (1)  Esperanto (1)  All (1)  Norwegian (1)  Swedish (1)  Hebrew (1)  Basque (1)  All languages (495)
Showing 1-5 of 439 (next | show all)
The Stranger is cool and edgy existentialism if you're 15 years old. ( )
  trrpatton | Mar 20, 2024 |
Albert Camus en su cúspide literaria. La indiferencia como estilo de vida. ( )
  franhuer | Mar 19, 2024 |
The Stranger has arguably one of the best commentaries on the subject of amorality. It establishes a clear link between the protagonist and his surroundings while showing a complete sentimental detachment between them, providing a perfect setup for the second half of the book. The seemingly mundane state of affairs described in the first half serves as an incredible contrast to the state described in the second book, and The Stranger relies heavily on this contrast to reflect on the perils of being sociable while being amoral. ( )
  shadabejaz | Mar 18, 2024 |
I wish i could be more like the main character. To think more about myself, the immediate context, the moment. To let go all the complexity you can't control anyway. Reading the slightly detached thoughts of the character feels like flying on a fresh breeze along a sandy shore. ( )
  rubyman | Feb 21, 2024 |
i found the character intros in pt. 1 to be hilarious.

Meursault pretty much only cared about his current mood and direct setting. During pt. 2, he acts in a textbook "external locus of control" demeanor. ( )
  1ucaa | Feb 12, 2024 |
Showing 1-5 of 439 (next | show all)
It is quite a trick to write of life & death, as Camus does, in terms of an almost total social and moral vacuum. He may get philosophical satisfaction from it. Most readers will call it philosophic doodling.
added by Shortride | editTime (May 20, 1946)
 
"The Stranger,” a novel of crime and punishment by Albert Camus, published today, should touch off in this country a renewed burst of discussion about the young French writers who are at the moment making more unusual literary news than the writers of any other country.
 

» Add other authors (60 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Albert Camusprimary authorall editionscalculated
Bree, GermaineEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Brenner, Hans GeorgTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Cohen, Marc J.Designersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Davis, JonathanNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Davison, RayEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Dunwoodie, PeterIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Flower, J.E.Editorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Gilbert, StuartTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Goyert, GeorgTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Hall, BarnabyPhotographersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Laredo, JamesTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Laredo, JosephTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Lionni, LeoCover designersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Lynnes, Carlos, Jr.Editorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Mitchell, SusanArt directorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Morriën, AdriaanTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Stolpe, JanTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Urculo, EduardoIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Valente, José ÁngelTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Ward, MatthewTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Watkins, LiselotteCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Yentus, HelenCover designersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Zevi, AlbertoTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

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Epigraph
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First words
Mother died today. (Stuart Gilbert translation)
Maman died today. (Matthew Ward translation)
Aujourd'hui, maman est morte. Ou peut-être hier, je ne sais pas.
Quotations
And I, too, felt ready to start life all over again. It was if that great rush of anger had washed me clean, emptied me of hope, and, gazing up at the dark sky spangled with its signs and stars, for the first time, the first, I laid my heart open to the benign indifference of the universe. To feel it so like myself, indeed, so brotherly, made me realize that I'd been happy, and that I was happy still.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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When a young Algerian named Meursault kills a man, his subsequent imprisonment and trial are puzzling and absurd. The apparently amoral Meursault--who puts little stock in ideas like love and God--seems to be on trial less for his murderous actions, and more for what the authorities believe is his deficient character.

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Book description
The day his mother dies, Meursault notices that it is very hot on the bus that is taking him from Algiers to the retirement home where his mother lived; so hot that he falls asleep.

Later, while waiting for the wake to begin, the harsh electric lights in the room make him extremely uncomfortable, so he gratefully accepts the coffee the caretaker offers him and smokes a cigarette. The same burning sun that so oppresses him during the funeral walk will once again blind the calm, reserved Meursault as he walks along a deserted beach a few days later-leading him to commit an irreparable act.

This new edition of Camus's classic novel The Stranger portrays an enigmatic man who commits a senseless crime and then calmly, and apparently indifferently, sits through his trial and hears himself condemned to death
Haiku summary
Je suis étranger.
Aujourd'hui, maman est morte.
Et je ne pleure pas.

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Penguin Australia

3 editions of this book were published by Penguin Australia.

Editions: 0141182504, 0241950058, 0141389583

 

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