
A friend of mine, Tai--who is banished (or exiled) in the lone star republic--recommendedThe Stranger, by Albert Camus, author and existentialist, after I complained about being lonely. Oh, was I lonely the week we talked. No arms around me body. Just awful. That feeling, however, has changed…more about that later. So, about this book. In his first novel, Camus presents readers with the not-so interesting life of a French man living in Algiers named Meursault. The book opens with Meursault receiving news of his mother’s death. He goes to her funeral, and then he returns home. He eats, sleeps and occasionally hangs out with a woman named Marie. Little else appears to happen. Meursault, our narrator, exposes readers to the inner sanctum of his mind, which is arguably very little. When his life takes a series of bizarre turns and in the end, he has only a few thoughts about it. These thoughts are fairly humorous. Camus is considered an absurdist. Consider this a recommendation. Below is an excerpt from The Stranger:
“It might look as if my hands were empty. Actually, I was sure of myself, sure about everything, far surer than he; sure of my present life and of the death that was coming. That, no doubt, was all I had; but at least that certainty was something I could get my teeth into--just as it had got its teeth into me. I'd been right, I was still right, I was always right. I'd passed my life in a certain way, and I might have passed it in a different way, if I'd felt like it. . . . And I, too, felt ready to start life all over again. It was as if that great rush of anger had washed me clean, emptied me of hope, and, gazing up at the dark sky spangled with its signs and stars, for the first time, the first, I laid my heart open to the benign indifference of the universe. To feel it so like myself, indeed, so brotherly, made me realize that I'd been happy, and that I was happy still."
--Meursault of The Stranger
Friday, August 15, 2003 @ 07:26 PMNice site. Maybe u will find this out interesting http://www.angelfire.com/ny5/mahler
"Mahler: The Man Who Was Never Born is a play which utilizes Goethe's concept of The Faustian Bargain. It is a term that I've coined to indicate an imagined, unearned gain in exchange for one's soul - a barter where-in the recipent is the looser. It is the relinquishing of one's judgement and life and when he places himself in the power of another. One does not get a "free lunch.""-From the Author
Tai I don't think Meursalt likes to live his life in one room and all that he feels that there is no choice. What does it mean to make something of your life? With Camus there is no pupose and some even today are griped with the fear that there is no real reson for exsitance.
Great book truely an insperation.
I have loved this book for several years. This book comforts the ideas of being and existence head on/full frontal. Meursault makes me laugh as he emotionlessly and feelinglessly stumbles through life.
For me, this book reminds me that I must work to create something for my life. Meursault is the epitome of the tragic character because he doesn't work to make anything happen. He likes to live his life in one room, never fully experiencing all that life has to offer.
Existence must precede essence...
Posted by Tai / on Aug 17 @ 10:12 AM