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| 1 | +# The Stranger |
| 2 | + |
| 3 | +- **Category:** Book |
| 4 | +- **Original title**: L'Étranger |
| 5 | +- **Author:** [Albert Camus](https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/957894.Albert_Camus) |
| 6 | +- **Genre:** Philosophical/Absurdist Fiction |
| 7 | +- **Release Date:** 1942-05-19 |
| 8 | +- **Date:** 2025-10-30 |
| 9 | +- **Rating:** 4/5 |
| 10 | +- **Link:** [Goodreads](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49552.The_Stranger) |
| 11 | + |
| 12 | + |
| 13 | + |
| 14 | +## Albert Camus's The Stranger (L'Étranger): Review |
| 15 | + |
| 16 | +Albert Camus’s The Stranger is a stark masterpiece of **Absurdism**, |
| 17 | +the philosophy asserting the conflict between humanity’s search for _meaning_ and the universe’s _indifferent silence_. |
| 18 | + |
| 19 | +The novel follows **Meursault**, a French Algerian who is profoundly detached from life. |
| 20 | +His emotional apathy is established immediately by his indifference to his mother's death. |
| 21 | +Meursault lives on the surface, his actions dictated by physical sensations (like the heat of the sun, which he blames for his later crime) |
| 22 | +rather than **moral or emotional reasoning**. |
| 23 | + |
| 24 | +The core of the book lies in his trial. Meursault is condemned less for murdering an Arab man and more for his refusal to conform to social rituals—specifically, |
| 25 | +his failure to show grief and his general lack of remorse. He is persecuted for his authenticity in a world that demands lies and conventional feelings. |
| 26 | + |
| 27 | +In his final, furious realization, Meursault achieves peace by accepting the universe's "**benign indifference**". |
| 28 | +By embracing the absurdity and meaninglessness of his existence, |
| 29 | +he finds a unique form of freedom and happiness. The novel is a chillingly simple yet profound critique of |
| 30 | +societal judgment and the human need for conventional meaning. |
| 31 | + |
| 32 | +## Abstract: Albert Camus's Philosophy of Absurdism |
| 33 | + |
| 34 | +Albert Camus's core philosophy, **Absurdism**, centers on the fundamental conflict between humanity's inherent need to find _meaning_ |
| 35 | +and the universe's _cold_, _permanent indifference_ and _silence_. |
| 36 | +This collision —the human call for logic meeting the world's irrationality— is what Camus terms the **Absurd**. |
| 37 | +His work is a sustained argument against seeking false comfort in religion or ideology ("**philosophical suicide**") or succumbing to true despair (**literal suicide**). |
| 38 | +Instead, Camus proposes a path of revolt: the conscious, passionate, and lucid acceptance of the Absurd. |
| 39 | + |
| 40 | +By recognizing that life is inherently meaningless, one gains absolute freedom and can choose to live fully and defiantly, |
| 41 | +maximizing human experience and solidarity in the face of certain death. |
| 42 | +The goal is not to resolve the Absurd, but to confront it with integrity. |
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