Retrying The Stranger Again

Authors: Mary Ann Frese Witt; Eric Witt

Source: Rodopi Perspectives on Modern Literature, Literature and Law. Edited by Michael J. Meyer. , pp. 1-19(19)

Publisher: Rodopi

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Abstract:

Camus's Meursault has been put on trial many times since the first appearance of L'Etranger in 1942, but, given the ambiguity of the text, will probably never receive a final verdict. An approach that takes into account more fully the role of the legal system as it existed in colonial Algeria in the 1930's may, however, help to re-situate critical judgment of Camus's anti-hero.

Meursault resembles other French Algerians in that he is a foreigner amongst the members of the indigenous population, in fact perceiving them as less than human. Yet he is also a stranger among the French colonials, hence exemplifying both meanings of L'Etranger. By refusing to participate in his society's legal discourse, he refuses the construction of cause and effect, the linkage of past with present, by extension, the justifications of colonialism. His crime, in the argument of the prosecution, portends a potential revolt on the part of the colonized. Thus, although Meursault shares the pied-noir mentality, he is also a threat to its control and thus a scapegoat to be eliminated. In a court of law, he could well be judged guilty of murder. His "innocence" is not a legal concept but rather a function his original perception of experience. The reason that The Stranger has affected so many readers throughout the world is that it strikes to the heart of the profound discord between the existential reality of living, changing individuals and the constructions which legal and social discourse necessarily make of that reality. On one level, it could be argued that the novel is about the differences between law and literature.

Document Type: Research article

Publication date: 2004-06-01