The Outsider

Meursault is different. He will not lie. He will not pretend.

He is true to himself.

So when his mother dies and he is unmoved, he refuses to do the proper thing and grieve. Returning to Algiers after the funeral, he carries on life as usual until he becomes involved in a violent murder.

In court, it is clear that Meursault's guilt or innocence will not be determined by what he did or did not do.

He is on trial for being different - an outsider.

About the Author

French novelist, essayist, and playwright. Albert Camus (1913-1960) was a representative of non-metropolitan French literature. His origin in Algeria and his experiences there in the thirties were dominating influences in his thought and work. Among his works, The Plague (1947), The Just (1949) The Fall (1956). He was killed in a road accident in 1960. His last novel, The First Man, unfinished at the time of his death, appeared for the first time in 1994.