The Outsider by Albert Camus (Book Analysis) E-Book

Bright Summaries

• Herausgeber: BrightSummaries.com
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Serie: BrightSummaries.com
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 22

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

Unlock the more straightforward side of The Outsider with this concise and insightful summary and analysis!

This engaging summary presents an analysis of The Outsider by Albert Camus, which follows the antihero Meursault as he lives his life in complete disregard of social conventions and is led to kill by events that seem to be beyond his control. His refusal to lie or pretend to be something he is not in order to make others comfortable draws the ire of his fellow citizens, and his condemnation is due as much to his apparent remorselessness and lack of feeling as to his crime itself. The Outsider forms part of Camus’s so-called “Cycle of the Absurd” and is widely considered to be one of the most important books of the 20th century. Camus was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1957, and influenced writers and philosophers around the world with his reflections on the meaning of existence and the search for happiness in an ultimately indifferent world.

Find out everything you need to know about The Outsider in a fraction of the time!

This in-depth and informative reading guide brings you:
• A complete plot summary
• Character studies
• Key themes and symbols
• Questions for further reflection

Why choose BrightSummaries.com?
Available in print and digital format, our publications are designed to accompany you on your reading journey. The clear and concise style makes for easy understanding, providing the perfect opportunity to improve your literary knowledge in no time.

See the very best of literature in a whole new light with BrightSummaries.com!

Leseprobe

ALBERT CAMUS

FRENCH WRITER, PLAYWRIGHT, ESSAYIST AND PHILOSOPHER

Born in Mondovi (Algeria) in 1913.Died in Villeblevin in 1960.Notable works:The Outsider (1942), novelThe Myth of Sisyphus (1942), essayThe Plague (1947), novel

The Algerian-born French author Albert Camus (1913-1960) was a Nobel Laureate and one of the major writers of the 20th century. He was a deeply committed intellectual, philosopher, journalist, playwright and novelist, and his reflections on the Absurd, which he expressed in a nuanced, sensitive and humane way, had a major impact on his contemporaries.

Camus was widely admired in spite of some occasional criticism, and his novels The Plague (1947) and especially The Outsider (1942) have proven influential throughout the world. He met an untimely death following a car accident in 1960.

THE OUTSIDER

AN UNUSUAL NOVEL

Genre: absurd novelReference edition: Camus, A. (2013) The Outsider. Trans. Smith, S. London: Penguin.1st edition: 1942Themes: the Absurd, sensuality, the sun, revolt, justice, injustice

The Outsider is Camus’s first novel, and was published in 1942. It tells the story of Meursault, a taciturn young man who embodies the Absurd to such an extent that he appears to be a stranger to his own existence. He is sentenced to death for the murder of an Arab, and the fact that he did not cry during his mother’s funeral is held against him during the trial. The novel, which is written in the first person in a very oral style, is unusual in many ways, and is scathing in its criticism of social conventions.

The Outsider is one of the most widely read and studied books of the 20th century, both in France and in the rest of the world.

SUMMARY

THE DEATH OF HIS MOTHER

The narrator Meursault learns of his mother’s death with apparent indifference. He takes a day off work in Algiers to go to the “old people’s home” (p. 3) where she lived. Once there, he sits by her body overnight, in the company of the other residents of the home, and keeps boredom at bay with coffee and cigarettes.

The next day, he accompanies the funeral procession as it meanders through the Algerian countryside under a blazing sun. He remains emotionless throughout the funeral, and is relieved to go back to Algiers (“I knew I could soon go to bed and sleep for twelve hours”, p. 19). This apparent lack of empathy is an early indication of Meursault’s estrangement from society and its conventions.