The Stranger // Albert Camus
I have to confess: I am a huge philosophy geek. All my artwork and research is usually linked to different philosophical movements. The book that started this affinity for philosophy is The Stranger by Camus. The Stranger is a novel, and it’s about a man whose Mother dies, and at the funeral he doesn’t cry but rather smokes and drinks coffee. This immediately sets him out to be an outsider in society, and people are weary of him as he doesn’t appear to have any emotion. The day after a funeral he begins a relationship with someone, further alienating him from societal expectations. Soon after on a beach the main character kills a man (The Cure’s ‘Killing Of An Arab’ was influenced by The Stranger), without expressing any form of emotion. The second part of the book is centered on when Meursault – the main character – is in prison, and again he shows little emotion. His apathy to everything stands him apart from everyone else, making people scared of him, and even angry. What I love about The Stranger is that it does provoke questions about the human condition and social expectations, and it’s a great introduction to philosophy.