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/lit/ - Literature

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3504026 No.3504026 [Reply] [Original]

OK, here's my reading of The Stranger. Meursalt truly did not see the value of various patterns on the social tapestry-- made-up rules of conduct, made-up "covenants" like marriage and funerals, and so on. Throughout the story there is something he really did care about-- his basic needs as a creature. Paraphrasing here: (of the funeral) "damn it's hot out here" "i'm hungry man" "the sun was blazing on my face!". The one "higher pleasure" that seemed to strike Meursalt was the fact that his mother had begun an intimate relationship with another occupant of the home, despite staring death in the face: the moment where she was ready to live it all over again. Well, when Meursalt was being put to death, he realized that he liked that one idea, that is, sincere readiness to live it all over again. This is apparently the only thing he valued aside from fulfilling basic bodily needs. So, it was in facing death that he saw the value of existence. It wasn't in the norms and rituals of his society, it wasn't in transient pleasures like travel or feigned friendship: it was in staring unflinchingly at death. Take it or leave it my friend. Cheers.

>> No.3504030

riveting tale

>> No.3504037

Read Camus's views on suicide so that you can stop taking him seriously.

>> No.3504042

>>3504037
Camus' views are irrelevant, post-structuralism and all that jazz.

>> No.3504072

What's the better translation;

Stuart Gilbert or Matthew Ward?

>> No.3504077

>>3504072
Ward's translation is the better version, at least in my opinion.

>> No.3504085

>>3504077
I was going to buy it on Amazon, but some people wrote asshurt reviews about Ward's version sucking.

I decided to read the Gilbert one first, then read Ward.

>> No.3504091

>>3504085
A lot of people have a bias towards whatever they read first.

I don't though, and I think Ward's captures the feel of the original French version better.

>> No.3504097

>>3504026
I mostly agree.

I didnt pick up on the part with his mother having a new lover, though its been a while since I read the book so maybe ive just forgotten.

Where I disagree is your focus on his desires as a human before his execution. I dont think he really cared about anything before the execution, the simple and sensual are just things that happened to him.

>> No.3505007

>emotionless, bored dude
>kills someone to feel something
>doesn't feel anything
>faces execution
>still no feelings
>dies

>> No.3505061

>>3504091
>>3504085
>>3504072

Ward's one is really better. I've read both the French and translated version.