The Stranger

I was heading to the dentist last week so I stopped in the library to get a book to read. Not a library book, but a book from their ongoing book sale because I didn’t want one picked over and ragged.

I bought Camus’ The Stranger which was in very good condition. Perhaps it was originally bought by a student who reached the end of the course without having to open it - that does happen.

I hadn't read The Stranger since college and had forgotten how concisely Camus wrote in 1946. (Yes, it was an English translation.)

You could call him Hemingway with purpose; meaning Hemingway parsed everything down to simplicity while Camus did the same but within the framework of existentialism.

Ah, existentialism. Probably the most laughed-at philosophy in capitalist America (with socialism and communism being the most reviled.)

But there is an irony in that sentiment which I realized while watching The Fellowship of the Ring.

Scene: Gandalf and Frodo sitting in the mines of Moria. Gandalf has no clue as to which way is out and Frodo spots Gollum for the first time.

In the ensuing conversation with Gandalf, Frodo expresses his unhappiness with the burden of the Ring and journey he has undertaken. And Gandalf says: So do all people who live in troubling times but your only purpose is to use well your days.

Ok, I didn’t fall off my chair when I heard this but it was a “Wow” moment for me for I was hearing the aphorism I had taken from existentialism and Camus:

The world is absurd but do the best job you can.

So if you haven’t read The Stranger. Give it a try. It’s only 123 pages.

Extra credit: Notice how heat plays a role in the story.

Extra-extra credit: Go back to Romeo and Juliet and notice how heat plays a role there.