The Stranger | Albert Camus

The Stranger or The Outsider is a 1942 novel by French author Albert Camus. Though it is a work of fiction, it is often cited as an example of Camus’ philosophy of Absurdism.

The Stranger has had a profound impact on millions of readers. Through the story of an ordinary man unwittingly drawn into a senseless murder on an Algerian beach, Camus explored what he termed "the nakedness of man faced with the absurd."

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📘 The Book

▶ The Stranger (1942)

📚 Other Recommended Reading (High Quality and Best Translations)

▶ The Myth of Sisyphus (1942)
▶ The Plague (1947)
▶ The Rebel (1951)
▶ The Fall (1956)
▶ A Happy Death (1971)
▶ The First Man (1994)

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⌛ Timestamps

0:00 Introduction
0:40 The Story
5:45 The Importance of the Physical World
6:12 The Irrationality of the Universe
8:24 The Meaninglessness of Human Life

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📝 Sources
- The Stranger (1989) - Vintage International

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🎶 Music used

1. The Stranger - CO.AG Music
2. Lightless Dawn - Kevin MacLeod
3. Magnetic - CO.AG Music

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Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

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#camus #thestranger #meursault

[Eternalised]

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[WeltgeistYT]

Great book. The first sentence is legendary. There are some sentences and scenes that have been with me even ten years later, such as when Meursault remarks how easily humans get used to things when he's imprisoned.

[iroise]

A single thing to add, "maman" is a lot more similar to "mom" than "mommy". This would make his relationship with his mother more personal, as opposed to childlike

[MagmaleV]

When I read this novel I was struck by how much in common I have with a main character. It was simultaneously a depressing and an eye opening very personal experience, and in the end of the book I understood myself and a reality we live in a lot more

[vivekanand]

Camus is the greatest, and the only philosopher to be followed, in my opinion.

The idea of life being meaningless and the universe being indifferent do not mean anything bad. In fact, it makes us completely free to do what we want knowing full well that if we did something else, it would have made no difference. What we have done till now is not worse (or better) than what we 'could have done'.

You don't need to beat yourself up over missed opportunities or notional losses or artificial goals. In the end, you lived one way, and you could have so easily lived another way. It doesn't matter.

One man's dog can have just as much value as another guy's wife. It is not for Mersault to cry at his Mother's funeral because she lived her life and died, and no one has any right to cry over her.

If you take life as it comes in a matter-of-fact manner, responding to your physical feelings and living deeply, that is in no way a 'lesser' life than if you had thought a lot, read a lot of philosophy, or whatever else you are 'supposed to do'. A lot of French philosophers drank at the Left Bank cafes, read a lot, debated philosophy and politics, and considered themselves deep thinkers. Camus played football, chased women, tried to look like Bogart, died in a car crash, and his football club came to his funeral. He could have lived like Sartre but he lived his way. It makes no difference and that is the point.

Camus is someone who has stressed on an individual having absolute freedom in a completely un-free world, do it as an act of rebellion. Acknowledge the Absurd, understand everything is meaningless, and understand you still would seek meaning... and still live life to the fullest taking in all your physical experiences. You don't owe anyone anything, and nobody needs to cry at your funeral. Anyone who does this is going to be happy, just as Camus imagined Sisyphus to be.

[christophkiesewetter]

A perfect book. It's perfect because it makes Camus' philosophy obvious and easy to understand 👌

[lucymziri]

Watching this felt perfect after having just finished the book. I felt speechless. Thank you.

[AdaptiveApeHybrid]

Great analysis on many levels dude.

I absolutely hated this book when I first read it about three years ago. My girlfriend, at the time just a friend, was dying for me to read it. She thought I would understand it, relate and enjoy it. I was eager to please her.

It was fucking horribly painful for me to read. Not because of the subject matter, it was because of the mundane prose! It reminded me of my own mundane thoughts or how it would be to be able to read someone's mind. It was so painfully boring!

It was only after the climax on the beach that I was able to get over this pain and begin to appreciate it. I still hated it at this point but everything after the 'murder' had stuck with me. I couldn't get it out of my head. It was all so familiar. How many times have I found myself in a similar situation? Not that I make a habit of being arrested and tried for murder; how many times have I sat there after something ridiculous and consequential has happened, trying to figure out how and why I'm here now, only to be left with the emptiness that comes from acknowledging the lack of meaning; that there is no good reason for why things happen, that we are all alone in our own minds, that our thoughts and feelings are ours alone, that there is no such thing as freedom, etc.

I love this book now but only in retrospect! I'm 31 now, I probably won't be able to stomach reading it again until 35, I absolutely plan to though!

Thanks for the content!

[tommurgatroyd]

This is a fantastic summary of a great book. Remember when I first read it in school, I never understood it. Since becoming fascinated by philosophy, it makes incredible amounts of sense

[aminberjaouitahmaz]

This is one of the most underrated philosophy channels on YouTube. Keep up the amazing work!

[vedant]

I'm not into finding deep meanings from books,
But man! I felt so empty after reading this book, i felt bad for the main character but at the same time felt nothing towards him.
We need to express our emotions, these emotions are what makes us humans. Allowing our physical needs to overrule our emotions and morality like the main character here makes us no different than animals or in this case a "stranger".
I felt so repulsed by the main character, because i realised I too was becoming like him.

It was a wake up call for me to truly live my life and find joy and meaning in simple day to day mundane tasks and be happy for small things and be grateful for the people I have in my life, unlike the guy here.

[Meursault]

For everything to be consummated,
for me to feel less alone,
I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators
the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate....

[xennomorph]

The multitude do be tightening its hold.

[megga]

Thank you for this explainer video, I just read this book in French because I’m learning the language and it is hailed as one of the great works in French literature. As someone who went through an existential crisis and suffered from depression throughout all high school and college, I saw some of my former self in Mersault and am happy to report that I now strongly disagree with his (and Camus’) form of thinking. Mersault’s life was indeed meaningless and absurd because he made it so. He never loved nor cared for others, nor experienced life, nor pursued any passions. He obediently worked his soul crushing 9 to 5 and succumbed to addiction. Sounds like depression as I knew it. His disconnection from society and others allowed him to be callous to his mother’s death, to be complicit in the suffering of his neighbor’s maîtresse, using Marie for his own physical pleasure yet denying the unconditional love of Marie, killing the Arab in cold blood, and shutting out everyone around him. All evidence showed that Mersault simply did not value human life and his absurdist views perpetuated this belief, leading him to not even care what happened to his own life. Was it not fitting that society would eventually show him the same contempt that he did towards it?

[aslanbarisim]

Great summary. And I was greatful that you added Camus's comments regarding what he meant by writing the book. That saves really a lot research on what he actually meant by writing the book.

I'm not sure but "catcher in the rye" came to me as a very similiar book. Because of the simplicity of the story, you can create millions of meanings which actually was not the purpose.

Humans are very attracted to mystery, I think thats why the book Stranger attracted many people.

I will check out you other videos... ✌️🙋🏻‍♂️👏

[PhilosophyToons]

You got a great voice for audiobooks, great vid!

[Davlavi]

This channel deserves way more viewers. Keep up the great videos.

[Crazeyfor]

Your videos are excellent. Many times you point out things I sort of felt from reading this book and others, but couldn't quite zero in on to articulate. Thank you.

[aledaraban]

What you re doing with this channel is truly amazing!
We needed you! 💙

[JackomoSVK]

How can you have only 8k subscribers ? You deserve way more than that, your channel is awesome. Keep up the good work, I need more of your videos :)