Help w/Camus' the Stranger - Page 3

Originally Posted by edinatlanta

Just finished it. I don't get it. Is that the point? BTW: Should I read the Plague or the Trial next?

Originally Posted by Deluks917

I didn't get the metamorphosis. or at least I'm not sure what I got by reading it that wasn't in the wikipedia article.

Originally Posted by holymadness

It helps to simplify matters by defining terms. What does Camus mean when he says the life is absurd? It's not that life is necessarily bizarre or full of illogical occurrances. It's that it lacks intrinsic meaning.

Why is this so? First, Camus believes in an absent God. It could either be that God does not exist, or merely that God does not interfere in the affairs of men. Thus, there is no pre-ordained plan, no transcendent source of moral law, no higher authority.

Second, man suffers and what's more, he is mortal. In fact, man suffers because God is absent, since there is no afterlife. As a result, one's endeavours are ultimately meaningless. What to do?

There is, of course, the nihilistic, defeatist response: kill yourself. Camus rejected this, which is why the fundamental question of his essay on the myth of Sisyphus is whether suicide is justified or not. He eventually decides that it isn't, partly because he's rebellious by nature, but also because he believes that people can create meaning in their lives through their choices, even if they cannot discover any external sources of meaning in the world around them.

So where does Meursault fit in? First of all, it's interesting that the book is written entirely in the first person; one never escapes the subjectivity of the character's lived experience. He drifts through life, finding nothing in it that either pleases or disturbs him to any great extent: not the death of his mother, not his manipulation by a pimp, not his fiancée's love. He hasn't invested any of these events with personal meaning.

While it's not clear why he shoots the Arab, once in prison he starts to come alive. Interestingly, during his time in a concentration camp, Sartre wrote that one is freest under the most extreme duress, and when every choice carries immense consequences. In any case, he begins to defend himself by claiming that he's being tried, not for murder, but for indifference to the world. Suddenly, these non-events take on enormous significance for Meursault, culminating in his rejection of God during the priest's visitation and his monologue at the very end of the book. An interesting question is whether Meursault is a kind of Dostoevskiian 'Last Man', or a Lermontov-esque 'Hero of our Time'. Is he to be vilified, or is he any different from any one of us? I think Camus provides an answer in the character of Bernard Rieux from The Plague, but it's still open to interpretation.

As an initiate to Camus, I found the myth of Sisyphus to be more confusing than helpful. I now understand that much of my incomprehension was due to a lack of background knowledge in philosophy at the time. I don't think it's the best study guide to his thought for a beginner, tbh.

Originally Posted by javyn

It was about alienation and isolation. It wasn't about him being a cockroach, it was about him being alienated. The story wouldn't change at all if instead of waking up to find himself turned into a cockroach, he'd wake up, get a call from his doctor saying he was HIV positive for instance. It's not about the roach, it's about people's reaction to him after finding out he is different.

Originally Posted by javyn

I liked it, but haven't ready anything else by Kafka. I'll prefer to curl up with Joyce, or better yet, Malcolm Lowry. Under The Volcano was the best novel ever written. Yes, I think it surpasses Ulysses.

Originally Posted by Deluks917

I liked Ulysses but I related to Dubliners more. Portrait was OK but AP Lit kinda killed it for me. Can someone please tell me I'm not the only one who thought Finnegan's wake was rediculous. He said it took him like 20 years to write. I figure he must have just been slacking off and two weeks before his pblisher's deadline he started scribbling random words. I'll read Under the Volcano.

Originally Posted by why

Actually, Kafka was just crazy from toxins in his living conditions.

I don't like it much (read parts of it in German to show how messed up the modern English translation is), but I do -- or at least did -- find myself frequently calling people overgrown cockroaches as an illustrative way to explain nihilism. Really though, I consider Kafka as one of the authors most people should know about but not necessarily read. Most of it is entirely senseless and any allegories present in the story are often very elementary and overshadowed by the all-permeating inanity.

Originally Posted by Deluks917

I liked Ulysses but I related to Dubliners more. Portrait was OK but AP Lit kinda killed it for me. Can someone please tell me I'm not the only one who thought Finnegan's wake was rediculous. He said it took him like 20 years to write. I figure he must have just been slacking off and two weeks before his pblisher's deadline he started scribbling random words.