The Outsider

Absurdism, as I learned about it, was popularized by Albert Camus through his writings. The Outsider (Stranger in French) is perhaps his most popular work. The basic idea behind Absurdism is that the universe is irrational and meaningless. There’s no point in finding meaning in life because it would only lead to conflict.

The book is about this eclectic young man, Meursault, living in French-occupied Algeria, he spends his days going through his usual routine–cooking breakfast, going to the office, heading out with a friend, etc with a certain contentment. It at times reminded me of the movie Perfect Days. But dig a little deeper and out comes this strange yet interesting character, one who seems indifferent when he attends his mother’s funeral or helps out his lecherous friend to take revenge on his mistress, with no qualms. The second part of the story gets tougher, set around a trial. But it gets all the more interesting.

Oddly enough, or not, I found myself agreeing with Meursault’s absurdist philosophy towards living life. He goes on living life, doing the bare minimum, and getting by while enjoying the process. He doesn’t harm others, he’s aware of other people’s emotions but reacts practically when questioned. “It’s fine if we get married…” he answers to his girlfriend upon being asked about marriage. This is where Absurdism differs from Nihilism(rejection of all moral and religious beliefs in the belief that life is meaningless). Even though both have the same premise–life has no meaning–an absurdist would go on enjoying the journey. Meursault enjoys being with his girlfriend and to him, it doesn’t matter if they get married or if they separate tomorrow. It’s a different philosophy and as the trial goes on to show in part II of the book, it conflicts with people who live their life according to some other philosophy. It is this awareness that I feel is critical, people view others through the lens of their own conditioning, philosophy, or belief, which then leads to conflict. J Krishnamurti talks about this in-depth in The First and Last Freedom if you’re interested. And it feels as if this review is devolving into a philosophical essay at this point, perhaps I’ll write about this someday, a post of its own.

“Mama used to say that people could eventually get used to anything, If I was forced to live inside a hollow tree trunk, I’ll eventually get used to seeing the clouds above passing or the birds flying across”