Sanrne: Absolutly not. Science is abstract; it also studies the variations of abstract factors not actual causality. ‘Tis concems universal factors on level in which relation shipscanalways be studied. Marga, onthe other hand, has to do with the stdy of a unigue set in which we seck a ‘usar. Teismoc a all the same thing as scientific causal Navente: You used the example of «young man who ‘ame to see you, which you elaborated at length Sanrae: Wasn't chatin connection with freedom? Naviexe: You had to answer him, I would have in- quired abot his capabilites, his age, and his financial re~ sources. I would have examined his relationship with his ‘other. Is possible might have offered an opinion, but 1 ‘most certainly would have red to sete ona precise pon of view, which might have proven false when pu into ection, but certainly would have encouraged him todo something, Sanrne: Ifhe comes to you asking for advice, he has already chosen a course of atin. In practical terms, [could very well have given him advice, But since his goal was free- dom, Ivanted hi tobe free to decide, In any case, T knew what he was going todo, and that what he di A Commentary on The Stranger ‘Camas TBe Seranger had scarcely heen in print before it attracted a great deal ofatention.* People kept saying that it vs “the best book since the end of the wan” Among the literary productions ofits time, he novel wasitselfastranger came tous fom the other side of the horizon, the other side ofthe seas in that bitter spring without coal, it spoke tows of the sun, not as some exotic wonder but in tone of weary familiacity used by people who have indlged in it too nich, Tedd norset outtorebury the old regime on is own sy-so, oF ‘illus wth lings of our own unworthiness. While read ‘ngthis book, we recalled that there had once been works that didnot attempt to prove anything, content jst ta stand on their own merits. But this novel’ gratuitousness was also ‘companied by a certain ambiguity: What were we é make of this character who, on the day after his mothers death, “weneswitnming, began a pointless aff, went wo the moviesA COMMENTARY ON THE STRANGER toseea comedy*killd an Arab because ofthe sun," lsimed, ‘on the ev ofhis execution, that he "had been happy and stil wa” and hoped there would belts ofspectators around the scaffold “to welcome him with eriesof hatred”? “Heb anutya poor foo," some people sid, while others, more insighefal said “he an innocent.” The significance ofthis innocence vas notyetunderstond In. The Myth of Sinphus which appeared a few months later, Camus provided us with «precise commentary on his ‘work his hero was neither good nor bad neither moral nor immoral, Such cxtegores donot apply him Hebelongs to 4 very particular species for which the author reserves the ame “absurd. But in Camas’ work, this word takes on tw ‘very diffrent meanings. The “absurd” i both a acral tate ad the faci awareness that some people acquire from that state. The “absurd” man is one who does nothesitate to draw inevitable conclusions frm a fundamental absurdity: In this wwe find che same displacement of meaning as when we give the name “swing” to the young generation that dances to “orig” musi, What, then, docs “absurd” mean asa factual state oF as sot of givens? Nothing less than man’ relation- ship co the worl. Primary absurdity manifests itself as schism —thesehiam between man' aspiration for unicy and the insurmountable dualism of mind and nature, berween ‘man’s drive to stain the eternal and the fntenarure of his ceistence, between the “concern” that constitutes his very ‘essence and the vanity of his efforts. Death, eh irreducible plasm oftruthsand of beings, the uniseligibiliy of real fy chance —these are the core components af the absurd These themesare not elly very new and Camus does not present them as such. They had been explored as earyas the seventeenth century through a dy, plan, and contemplative rationalism, which is ypcally French, and in which they found expression as platitudes of elascal pessimism. Was it ot Pascal who sressed that “the natural misforeune of ost ‘mortal and feeble condition isso wretched that when we consider it closely, nothing can console us"? Was it not he who put reason in its place? Would he not have enthsi ‘sally approved ofthis comment by Camus: "The worlds ether (totally) rational, nor so irrational”? Does he not show us thar ‘conceal fom man hie “nothingness, hisforlomnes, his inadequacy, hisimpotence, ant his emptiness"? By din of the impersonal syle used in ‘Tee Myth of Sipbus and the themes explored in his says, ‘Camas must be placed inthe great tradiion of those French ‘moralists whom Charles Ander has rightly called *Niete- sche precursors” As for dhe doubts that he has raised about ‘the scope of our reasoning powers, they ae inline with the most recent tradition of French epistemology we consider seieniie nominaism— Poincaré, Duhem, and Meyerson — It easier for us to understand the reproach made by our author against moder science: “You tell me ofan invisible planetary system in which electrons revolve around » ma- cles, You explain the word ro me by means of an image. Iealize then that you have arrived ata poeic understanding ‘of thing." This idea was also expressed almost atthe same time, by another writer who was draing from the same ‘material when he wrote: “Physics ses mechanical, dynamic, for even paychological models indifferently, as if, berated fram ontological pretensions, it were indifeent co the clas- sical aninomies of mechanism of dynamism which imply a ‘nature-in-tsel” Camus seems to pride himself on quoting “Tospers, Heidegger, and Kierkegaard, whom he seems not have always truly understood. Bur his ral masters ae to be found elsewhere: che way in which he reasons the clarity of his ideas, che ent of his esis style, and a ceran kind of solar, ondely, ceremenions, and desolate melancholy all r= veal classical temperament, a Mediterranean. His very rethod only through a balance of evidence and Ircism can we simultaneously achieve emotion and uedity” rings to mind the old “passionate geometries’ of Pascal and Rous sea and slate him, for example, fr more co Charles Maur- ‘as—that other Mediterranean from whom he nonetheless {ifersin so many respects—than toa German phenomenal- gistor a Danish existentialist But Camus would no doubtbewiling to agre withall this. Ase ses, his originality isin stretching his ideas to the limit indeed, his aim s not to produce a colletion of pesi> rmistc maxims. The absurd, tobe sre resides neither in man notin the world fone considers each separately: But since ‘man’ essential nature is "being in-the-worl” the absurd is ‘kimately an inseparable part ofthe hun condition. Thus, tteabsurtisnoatal primarily the objecof simple notion, tousina bleaklighe. "Getup tke subway work feur hours athe of or plan, ex tke subway, work four hours, at, sleep ~ MondayTuesday-Wednesday-Thurs dy-Friay-Saurday—aways the sme routine ...,” and the, sun "the sage seteallpses,”andweaeimmrsed inhoples Inyo ifwe manage o reject the misleading promises of eligion or existential philosophies, we come into session of certain basierths the worlds chaos a “dvine ‘suivalence horn of anarchy and tomorow does ot eis, since weal den universe suddenly deprived of illusions ard enlightenment, man fees ikea stranger. This ee s inevocable, sine he as no memories ofalosthomeland, nor any hope ofa promised land." Thats cae ian ent the worl. “IFT were tree among other tes... this fe would fovea meaning, or rather this problem would havenone fork would be partofthis world. [ne thisworiin position towhich now find myself ally conscious being... ei this preposterous eson that ets me aginst al of creation.” “The ler partly explains the tide of Camus’ norl the “saanget”isman confronting the worl Camscould jst vel have chosen for the il of his novel she mame of work by George Gising: Born in Exe The strangers alo aman among men. "There are days when... you find that che erton you've loved has become a stranger” The tanger, Sally, myself in ration wo self thats, natural man arelation to mind: “The stranger who, a certain moments, confronts usin a mieroe™ ‘Bu ts more than tha: there is a pasion of the absurd “The absurd man will not coma suicide; he wants to lve, without relinquishing any of his cetaingy, without a future, without hope, without ilusion and without resignation, ther, The absurd man asers himself by revolting. He stares ax death with passionate attention and this fascination iber- ates him. He experiences the “divine irresponsibility” of rman sentenced to die. Since God does not exist and we all rst die, everything i permissible. One experince is as good as another, co what matersis simply to acquire asmany of them as posible. “For the absurd man, the ideal i the present and the succession of present moments before an cever-consciows sprit Confronted with this “quantitative eth” all yalues collapse. Projected into this world, the absurd maa, rebellious and irresponsible, has “nothing © prove.” He isnt, as innocent as Somerset Maugham’ primitive tribesmen before the clergyman comes to teach them Good and Evi, whats permited and what is forbid dea, For this man, .verything is permissible. Hes as innocent 1s Prince Mishkin, who “ives in perpenal present, tinged ‘with smiles and indifference.” Innocent in every sense of the word, an idiot. too, if you like. And now we flly under- stand the tie of Cams novel, The stranger he wants t0 portray is precisely one of those terrible “idiots” who shock 4 society by not accepking the rules ofits game, He lives nong strangers, but he ie stranger to them, 0. Tat is why some people grow fond of him like Marie, his mis- tres, who likes him “because he odd.” Osher, lke the courtroom crowd whose hatred he feels suddenly rising aginst him, hat him forthe same reson, And we ourselves, ‘opening the book, and being not yt familar with the feeling ‘of che absurd, wll ry in wan to judge hm according to out ‘eustomary standards: or us, to, he isa stranger “Thus the shock you felt when you first opened the hook and read, "Ie occured to me that anyway one more Sunday ‘was over, chat Mama was buted now, that I would go back to work and that, relly, nothing had changed” was inten ional’ Te was the result of your fist encounter with the absurd. But you were probably hoping, as you continued reading the book, that your uneasiness would fade, every thing would gradually become clear, be made reasonable, and explained, Your hopes were dashed: The ranger isnt book that explains anything. The absurd man does not ex plain, he describes. Nori i book that proves anything. ‘Camus merely presents something and is not concerned bout jusithing whae is fundamentally unjustiable. The Mych of Sisyphus will ater reach ws to incrpret our author's novel It isin the later that we discover the theory ofthe absurd novel, though the absurdity ofthe human cond tion sits sole theme, tis nota novel witha plier socal message tis not the product ofa “smug” kind of thinking, ingent on supplying formal proof, but, othe contrat, theA COMMENTARY ON THE STRANGER product ofa “iited, mortal and rebellious” thought. The novel’ very existence is proof ofthe fury of rational res soning. “The choice that [great novels] have made to rey ‘on images rather than on arguments reveals a certain kind of idea that they all shared conviction of the Ftty of ll explanatory principles and ofthe communica power cf swords that appeal to the senses."* “Thus the very fac shat Carns delivers his message in he form of novel reveals a proud humility. Thiss not rsigns- tion, bat an outraged acknowledgement ofthe limitations of human thought. Ie true ehat he flt obliged to make a philosophical sansation of his fictional message. The Mab of Sinpbusis precisely tha, and we shall se later how we ae 1 interpre the relationship of these two works. But, in ary ‘event, the presence ofthe translation does not alter the gri- tnitousness ofthe novel. The write ofthe absurd has, in deed, lost even the ilsion that his work necesary. On the contrary he wats us tobe constantly aware ofits contingent nature. As its epigraph, he would have us writ, “Might not have been,” just s Gide wished his readers would envision at the end of The Counter: “May be continue.” This novel might not have been, any more than this or that stone, stream o face. Iis a present that simply offers itself ike all “other presents inthis world It oes not ever have this su jective necessity that artists realy claim for their works when they sa; had to writeit, had to getitoffmy chest.” In this book, we reencounter one of the themes of surrealist A COMMENTARY ON THE STRANGER terrors, tered through the light of clas ean. A work ‘oF aris only a page torn frm a lif. Ieexpresses this lie of cours, but it ould have very well not expressed it, No aat- ‘er, for everything has the same value, whether it be writing The Pasesad or drinking » cup of coffee, Camus does not ‘demand ofthe reader that attentive solcitude that writes do ‘who “have scrifced their Hives to are” The Stramgoris just a sheet tor from hs life. And since the mos absurd life must bbe that whichis most sterile his novel aims a being magrii- cently sterile Artis fate act of generosgy, We need not be too concerned about that, for hidden beneath Camus’ para- doxes, I find some of Kane’ very wise observations on the “endless end” ofthe beautfl. Soc, in any event, is The ‘Siramger. a work detached froma ile unjustified and unjusti- fable sterile, fleeing already forsaken by its author aban doned for other presents. And that i how we must accept jt—as an abrupt communion between two individuals the author and the reader—beyond reason —in the realm ofthe absurd. “This gives us some indication ofhow we ate to regard the hero of Te Seramger: If Camus had wanted to write a novel with political orsocial message, it would have been essy for him to portray civil servantlordingitover his family whois suddenly suck withthe ination of the absurd, which he resists for a while before finaly resolving to live out the Fandamental absurdity of his condition. ‘The reader would have been convinced right with the charactesame reasons. Or, he could have related the life of one of those sins ofthe absurd so dear to his heart and whom he describes in The Myeb of Sigpbuz Don Juan, the Actor, the Conqueror, the Creator. But he did not do so, and Mew saul, the hero of The Strmge, remains ambiguous even "0 readers who are familar with the theories of the absurd Naturally we are assured thate isabsurd and eat his dom inant character trait sa pitiless Iuidty. Besides, in more ‘ways than one he was created t provide aconcerted lust tion ofthe theories presented in The Mh of Siyphus In che later work, for example, Camus writes “A man sore of san becuse of what he does not say than whate does sa." Meursault personifies this vile silence, this refi to ore= indulge in words *[He was asked) ithe had noticed chat vas withdrawn, and all he admitted to was that I did nor waste words” Two lines before this, the same witness has just est- fied that Meursault “was a man” [He was asked what he meant by that, and he said that everyone knew what he Similarly, in The Mic of Sicpbus, Camas expounds onthe subjerof love. He writes, “We cll love that which binds us to certain human beings based solely om a collective way of secing for which hooks and legends are responsible.” Andin the same vein, we read in The Stranger: “So she wanted 10 now whether Toved her. answered... thacie dt mean anything, but that I probably did't love hee.” From this ‘vantage point the debate cat flares in the courtroom andin the reader's mind, ‘Did Meursault love is mother? is dou Dy absurd. Firs of al, asthe lawyer ask, “Ts he accused of Jhaving buried his mother or of having killed aman?” Bt the words "to love” are the most meaningles of al. Mearssult probably put his mother ito a nursing home because he was short of money snd because “they had nothing more tosay to each other.” And he probably didnot go to see her often “cause it wasted [his] Sunday —not to mention che effort involved in going wo the bus station, buying tckes, and tk ing a two-hour tip." Bur what docs this mean? Isn't he living entirely in the presen, fully indulging bis passing moods? What we cal feeling is merely dhe absrac unity an the meaning of discontinuous impressions. Tam notcon- stantly thinking abou the people [love yet T cain to love them even when T amnot thinking sbour them —and I would be capable of compromising my well-being inthe name of an abstract feeling, in the absence of any real and immediate ‘mmotion. Meursal thinks and acs in a diferent way: he has ‘no desire to know these noble, continvows, and identical feelings. For him, neither love nor even romantic relation ships eit. All chat counts sth present~the concrete, He oes tose hismother when he fel ike it and that'shae. If the desteis there, i wil be strong enough to compl i 0 sgeton the bus, just as another concrete desire will be strong ‘enough to make this soggard run at fll speed and catch ride on the back of a moving truck Yet he stil ells his rather by the tender, childish name of "Mama," and he