Albert Camus - The Outsider

Albert Camus finished writing L’Étranger in May 1940, when he was not yet 27 years old. The novel was published in April 1942 and has since become one of the best known books in French literature. According to the critic and translator Alice Kaplan it “changed the history of modern literature”. Part of a trilogy on ‘the absurd’ (Camus wrote at the same time the play Caligula and the philosophical essay The Myth of Sisyphus), L’Etranger has been read in a variety of ways: as an existential treatise, as an indictment of colonialism, as a study in alienation, as a morality novel. However, in the face of the indifference of the main character, it is the vividness of the scenes and the details of the small characters that stay with us: the whining of the dog, the gait of the mother’s fiancé. The murder and the trial are bathed in colours: the bright yellow sun at the beach, the grey prison cell.

This is a book one does not forget. Deceptively easy to read, it is part of the secondary school curriculum in France, and appears on the French GCSE-level syllabus in England too. I have even seen it taught to students just beginning to learn French, because Camus writes in simple and direct sentences. Today, young people still read it as a ‘coming of age’ rite of passage. A film was made (Visconti), a song composed (The Cure) while many essays have been written and classes taught on the meaning of this book.

Why read the book now? What is its message? This is a novel that constantly surprises and opens new possibilities. Recently, the Algerian author Kamel Daoud published The Meursault Investigation, a story that finally names the Arab murder victim and tells the story from the point of view of his family today. Reading – or rereading – L’Étranger can be a new and enlightening experience, come and join us!

JOINING DETAILS:

• Four-meeting study on Zoom, led by Emilia Steuerman
• Thursdays, 6.00-8.00 pm (UK), 12 June – 3 July 2025
• We will read Sandra Smith’s translation: The Outsider, Albert Camus (Penguin Modern Classics, ISBN-13: ‎ 978-0141198064).
• £120 for four two-hour meetings, to include background notes and resources.