(Albet) Camus' Stranger: a hero for out troubled times?

• Author: Normey, Rob

Albert Camus blazed across the French literary firmament like a never-before seen comet in 1942, when L'Etranger was published. I recently read the novel again after a hiatus of some 19 years. I appreciated the excellent translation of Matthew Ward. What prompted me to return to this enigmatic work was a chapter in Roger Shattuck's superb book, Forbidden Knowledge (1996).

Let me say that when I first read The Stranger as a university student I saw its protagonist, Patrice Meursault, as a rather splendid hero. On a second reading I saw him in a more complex light. This time round added new revelations. The narrative unfolds in a deceptively simple fashion. Meursault, a working-class French Algerian, a "pied noir," receives word of his mother's death in the famous opening lines:

"`Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don't know. I got a telegram from the home:

`Mother deceased. Funeral tomorrow. Faithfully yours.' That doesn't mean anything.

Maybe it was yesterday."

The protagonist then journeys from his home in Algiers where he works as a clerk at a shipping firm to the county district in Algeria in which the nursing home is located. He betrays no emotion at the funeral and appears to take the death rather casually. He returns to the city and the next morning goes to the beach for a swim. There he meets an attractive woman, Marie, who used to work at his office. He invites her that evening to a film, a comedy starring Fernandel. This begins a liaison that continues over the summer. Meursault also gets involved with a neighbour, Raymond, who is an amateur pimp who has just beaten up his Moorish mistress. Raymond plots to gain further revenge and Meursault passively accedes to his request to assist in the plot. Then, one weekend while he travels with Raymond to visit friends, they encounter the brother of Raymond's mistress and other Arabs on the beach. This leads to a fight involving knives. Later, Meursault, for no rational purpose, decides to return to the beach alone, still carrying the revolver Raymond has given him for protection. From a distance of 10 metres he sees one of the Arabs pull out a knife. In the burning sun the light shoots off the steel. His eyes stinging and his brain reeling in the intense Mediterranean heat, Meursault recounts what follows: "It seemed to me as if the sky split open from one end to the other to rain down fire. My whole being tensed and I squeezed my hand around the revolver. The trigger gave ..." He...