To give you some background on the renowned French-Algerian author of this novel, Albert Camus was also a playwright, journalist, and a philosophical essayist. Perhaps his most notable or well known development, was the philosophy of 'absurdism'. This term essentially describes the fruitless human attempt at uncovering logical order or reasoning where none exists. Yet, it is important to know that his views did not stem from a morally indifferent approach toward the world, but rather the idea that life's lack of a superior meaning shouldn't necessarily inflict disheartenment amongst individuals. Camus, much like myself as a matter of fact, referred to himself more so as a tenacious humanist. The latter representing someone with an "outlook attaching prime importance to human rather than divine or supernatural matters" (Oxford American Dictionary). Camus, who himself rejected the so often reinforced existential, meaning "an approach that emphasizes the existence of the individual person as a free agent determining their own development through will" (Oxford American Dictionary), label upon his work, possessed an undeniable faith in humankind's ability, even so in the face of what he saw to be a blasé surrounding universe.
I don't wish to go overboard and bore you in terms of explaining how the author's philosophy of absurdity correlates with the details of the story, but if your experience reading it is anything like mine, you may find yourself feeling slightly to extremely puzzled come the end. I urge you to do a bit more research and have your questions answered! Here's a snapshot of the timeless nature this classic presents .
"When she laughed I wanted her again. A minute later she asked me if I loved her. I told her it didn't mean anything but that I didn't think so. She looked sad. But as we were fixing lunch, and for no apparent reason, she laughed in such a way that I kissed her."
***
"I have never seen a soul as hardened as yours."
***
"I was assailed by memories of a life that wasn't mine, but one in which I found the simplest and most lasting joys: the smells of summer, the part of town I loved, a certain evening sky, and Marie's dresses and the way she laughed."
***
"I would listen to my heartbeat. I couldn't imagine that a sound which had been with me for so long could ever stop."
***
"I just didn't have time to interest myself in what didn't interest me."
I don't wish to go overboard and bore you in terms of explaining how the author's philosophy of absurdity correlates with the details of the story, but if your experience reading it is anything like mine, you may find yourself feeling slightly to extremely puzzled come the end. I urge you to do a bit more research and have your questions answered! Here's a snapshot of the timeless nature this classic presents .
"When she laughed I wanted her again. A minute later she asked me if I loved her. I told her it didn't mean anything but that I didn't think so. She looked sad. But as we were fixing lunch, and for no apparent reason, she laughed in such a way that I kissed her."
***
"I have never seen a soul as hardened as yours."
***
"I was assailed by memories of a life that wasn't mine, but one in which I found the simplest and most lasting joys: the smells of summer, the part of town I loved, a certain evening sky, and Marie's dresses and the way she laughed."
***
"I would listen to my heartbeat. I couldn't imagine that a sound which had been with me for so long could ever stop."
***
"I just didn't have time to interest myself in what didn't interest me."