2025 Reading Challenge 34 The Outsider
Thanks to Matthew Broome for recommending a starting point for Camus. The Outsider, or The Stranger. The difference seems to stem from the translation of the original French L’Étranger. But as Camus himself says, it is about a man who defies social conventions and is disconnected from his own life. Feel free to argue either way!
We follow a man named Meursault, who remains disconnected and ambivalent about life. We start at the funeral of his mother, and he tramples over the expected conventions and ceremony, showing little emotion, whilst others are tearful, emotional and respectful.
Meursault continues to be cold and indifferent as he takes a lover but feels no commitment to love, and helps a fairly despicable neighbour write a cruel letter to punish an Arab girlfriend.
The book twists as Meursault shoots and kills the brother of the Arab girl. Heat and sun glaring down, he empties his gun into the body. All of this is later recounted to the police and in his trial in a very cold and plain manner. They assassinate his character by referring back to his previous actions at the funeral, surely a cold-blooded killer.
Meursault is sentenced to death by guillotine. In his cell, he waits for the blade to fall; he considers life but rejects meaning and religion, finally feeling at peace, focusing only on the Truth he’s lived by.
Anyone who comes into contact with him would likely describe him as a complete and utter bastard. But there IS a truth in how he behaves. The Universe is cold, unfeeling and cares nothing for the lives and loves of humans, so why should we not just embrace this Absurd, live fully, and accept death?
I think I enjoyed thinking about the book after I had read it more than the actual reading, some powerful ideas that resonate and possibly even more so now in the age of zero-hour contracts and the transfixed faces under the glare of smartphones.
I rated this book 6.5 out of 10.
TTRPG Thoughts:
I started thinking that there is nothing in this book that really relates to TTRPGs, but as I read more around Camus’ theories on the Absurd, the more it aligned with Lovecraft and the concept of the Mythos, the playing in the world of Call of Cthulhu, where the universe is vast and uncaring and mankind oblivious and trivial. As in Nemesis, “I have seen the dark universe yawning, where the black planets roll without aim, where they roll in their horror, unheeded, without knowledge or lustre or name.“
I can see that Absurd philosophy builds up an NPC like Meursault, who is a horror, a prime evil protagonist, but at the same time, you can understand and sympathise with his worldview.