Absurdism In The Outsider

Albert Camus, one of the eminent French novelist, essayist and playwright is often considered as a nihilist, or extreme absurdist who believes that life is senseless and useless. ‘The Outsider’, Camus’s first novel is a representation of his absurd thinking about the world. The use of the term ‘absurd’ in literature is a vehicle for writers to explore and represent those elements in the world that do not make sense and ‘The Outsider’ is one of the beautiful representation of Camus’s revolt against the norms of the society.

In the very first line of the novel elevates the absurd concept, " My mother died today. Or maybe yesterday, I don't know. I received a telegram from the old people's home: 'Mother deceased. Funeral tomorrow. Very sincerely yours.' That doesn't mean anything. It might have been yesterday ''

This is not a normal reaction of a son to the news of his mother’s death. In the very first lines we

In William M. Manly’s work “Journey to Consciousness: The Symbolic Pattern of Camus’s L’Etranger” we find many characteristic similarities between the protagonists of these two works. Camus’s claim that the works were not designed to reveal a “philosophie absurde” but a “sensibilité absurde”, is evident in the intention which is readily apparent in its poetic style and emotional tone. Although Camus’s personal point of view shows a deep sympathy with Meursault, it is evident that the quality of sympathetic awareness seems lacking in Meursault’s attitude toward his mother, Marie, Céleste, Raymond, and his life in the first section. In the light of Camus’s perception with different states of consciousness in Le Mythe de Sisyphe, it is suggested that Meursault’s early behavior towards the social norms falls into a symbolic pattern which is a characteristic feature of the novel as a