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L'Etranger)
The Stranger, also translated as The Outsider, (the original French version is called L'Étranger) (1942) is a novel by Albert Camus that tells the story of an alienated man who eventually commits a murder and waits to be executed for it. The book uses an Algerian setting, drawn from Camus' own upbringing.
(Note: étranger in French is closer to "foreigner," rather than "stranger," in English. Given the time in which it was written and the existential nature of the novel, it could be argued that the title is best translated as The Foreigner, but most English editions are titled The Stranger.)
At the trial, the prosecution focuses on the inability or unwillingness of the main character, Meursault, to cry at his mother's funeral, considered suspect by the authorities. The killing of the Arab apparently is less important than whether Meursault is capable of remorse. The argument follows that if Meursault is incapable of remorse then he should be considered a dangerous misanthrope and subsequently executed to prevent him from doing it again and in his execution make him an example to those considering murder.
Of note as well, Albert Camus was also a pied-noir (literally black foot): a French person who previously lived in the Maghreb, the northernmost crescent of the Mediterranean Sea and the heart of France's colonies, and come back to France. Early Christian missionaries accused dark-skinned people of having no morals because they cannot blush, so they are 'unabashed sinners'. Meursault's unwillingness or inability to cry at his mother's funeral could have been interpreted as the societal prejudice of the 'immorality' of people of color.
Usually classed as an existential novel, The Stranger is indeed based on Camus' theory of the absurd. Many readers mistakingly believe that Meursault lives by the ideas of the existentialists. In the first half of the novel, however, Meursault is clearly an unreflecting, unapologetic individual. It is Meursault's inability to reflect on the nature of his existence and of life that leads him to murder. Only by being tried and sentenced to death is Meursault forced to acknowledge his own mortality and the responsibility he has for his own life. Another theme is that we make our own destiny, and we, not God, are responsible for our actions and their consequences.
In cinema, the novel inspired Lo Straniero (1967), directed by Luchino Visconti, and Yagzi (2001), directed by Zeki Demirkubuz.
In popular music, it inspired The Cure's single Killing an Arab.
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