The Stranger (Camus novel)

Albert Camus’s first published novel, *The Stranger* (French: *L’Étranger*, literally “The Foreigner”; also issued in English as *The Outsider*), came out in 1942. It centers on Meursault, a detached man living in French Algeria. Weeks after burying his mother, he shoots and kills an unnamed Arab man on a beach in Algiers. The story unfolds in two halves, both told in Meursault’s own voice: the first covers the events leading up to the killing, the second his time in prison and trial.

Camus finished the first draft by May 1941. He later incorporated changes suggested by André Malraux, Jean Paulhan, and Raymond Queneau. The original French edition was released by Gallimard on 19 May 1942, hitting bookstores that June with a print run of just 4,400 copies—too small to become a bestseller. Despite being published under Nazi occupation of France, it faced no cuts or censorship from the Propaganda-Staffel.

English translations began appearing in 1946. The first was in the United Kingdom, where the title was changed to *The Outsider* to avoid confusion with the English translation of Maria Kuncewiczowa’s novel *Cudzoziemka*. When published in the United States, the original title *The Stranger* was kept, and the difference between British and American titles has remained in later editions. The novella gained traction among anti-Nazi readers after Jean-Paul Sartre’s 1947 essay “Explication de L’Étranger” (“Analysis of *The Stranger*”) focused on it.

Now regarded as a 20th-century classic, *The Stranger* is praised for its philosophical themes—absurdism, existentialism (though Camus rejected that label), and its syntactic style, especially in the final chapter. *Le Monde* placed it first on its list of the 100 Books of the 20th Century. A jury of 50 literary experts for *Le Temps* voted it the third-best French-language book of the 20th and 21st centuries.

The novella has been adapted into film three times: *Lo Straniero* (1967), *Yazgı* (2001), and *L’Étranger* (2025). It has also inspired numerous references in television and music—most notably The Cure’s song “Killing an Arab”—and was retold from the perspective of the murdered Arab man’s brother in Kamel Daoud’s 2013 novel *The Meursault Investigation*.

**Plot**

**Part 1** Meursault learns that his mother has died at the old-age home where she lived. He takes time off work to attend her funeral but shows no visible grief. He refuses to view her body, smokes, and drinks regular (white) coffee—not the obligatory black coffee—during the overnight vigil with the caretaker. The next day, back in Algiers, he runs into Marie, a former coworker. They reconnect, go swimming, watch a Fernandel film that evening, and begin a sexual relationship.

Over the following days, Meursault helps his neighbor Raymond Sintès—rumored to be a pimp, though he claims to work in a warehouse—get revenge on an Arab mistress Raymond suspects of cheating. Raymond asks Meursault to write a letter luring the woman to his apartment so he can sleep with her, then spit in her face and throw her out. Meursault agrees without concern for her feelings. When the woman visits on a Sunday morning, Raymond beats her after she slaps him; police get involved. Meursault agrees to testify that she was unfaithful, and Raymond is let off with a warning.

Meanwhile, Meursault’s boss offers him a transfer to a new branch in Paris, and Marie asks if he wants to marry her. Meursault has no strong feelings about either but is willing to go along. Their elderly neighbor Salamano, who has mistreated his diseased dog, loses the animal. Despite his usual harshness, he seeks comfort from Meursault, mentioning that some neighbors criticized Meursault for putting his mother in a home—news that surprises Meursault.

Raymond invites Meursault and Marie to a friend’s beach cabin. There they encounter the brother of Raymond’s spurned mistress and another Arab, who Raymond says have been following him. The brother slashes Raymond with a knife and flees. Later, Meursault walks alone along the beach, carrying Raymond’s revolver to prevent him from acting rashly. He meets the brother again. Dazed and suffering from heatstroke, Meursault shoots when the Arab flashes his knife. The first shot is fatal, but after a pause Meursault fires four more times.

**Part 2** Meursault is jailed. His usual detachment and adaptability make prison bearable once he grows accustomed to the restrictions and the lack of sex with Marie. At one point he realizes he has been talking to himself for days without noticing. For nearly a year, he sleeps, stares out his small cell window, and waits.