The Stranger

The Stranger is a 1942 novella by Albert Camus, first published in French as L’Étranger.

The Stranger is a 1942 novella by Albert Camus, first published in French as L’Étranger. Set in French Algeria, it follows Meursault, an emotionally detached man whose life changes after his mother’s death and a killing on a beach. The work is widely associated with absurdism and existentialist themes.

Publication and titles

The novella was published in 1942 in French as L’Étranger. English-language editions have appeared under both The Stranger and The Outsider. It was Camus’s first novel to be published.

Plot

Meursault, living in French Algeria, responds with emotional detachment to his mother’s death, begins an informal relationship with Marie, and later kills an unnamed Arab man on a beach. The second half of the book focuses on his trial and punishment. The story is told in the first person by Meursault, centering on his indifference.

Themes

The work is commonly read through the lenses of absurdism, existentialism, indifference, and the conflict between individual experience and social expectations. Commentators often emphasize the novel’s interest in meaning, morality, and the human response to death. The novel is closely linked to absurdist and existentialist interpretation.

Literary significance

The Stranger is one of Camus’s best-known works and is widely studied in literature and philosophy courses. Its concise style and philosophical concerns have made it a major 20th-century French literary text. It is widely taught and studied in Canadian secondary and post-secondary literature courses as a key 20th-century French-language work.