Mei 1

Annotated Bibliography for Albert Camus’s The Stranger

Cosper, Dale. "Albert Camus”. Twentieth-Century French Dramatists. Ed. Mary Anne O'Neil.
Detroit: Gale, 2006. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 321. Literature Resource
Center. Web. 10 Dec. 2010.

Summary: Albert Camus was born in Algeria on November 7, 1913. Albert Camus was a
French-Algerian novelist, essayist, and dramatist. The lost of his father had profound impact on
Albert Camus and made him painfully aware the tragic effects of the war. Albert Camus
published The Stranger and developed his theory of the absurd in 1942. Final, Albert Camus
died in an automobile accident in 1960.

Quotation: "Although the theater was Albert Camus's passion, literary critics have been nearly
unanimous in their negative assessment of his talent in this genre. During Camus's lifetime critics
often found his plays "defective." For example, Henry Popkin concludes, "Except in Caligula,
we miss the theater's equivalents for the sophisticated method of his fiction." Camus's biographer
Olivier Todd essentially agrees with Popkin, writing, "Camus se voulait dramaturge. A mon
sens, Caligula tient toujours la scène avec force, les autres pièces moins" (Camus thought of
himself as a playwright. In my opinion Caligula is still a powerful play, the other plays less so).
In this vein, Anthony Rizzuto reluctantly concludes that "the root problem in Camus's love
scenes in general and dialogue in particular is that he had little or no talent for dramatic art."
Nevertheless, Camus's dramatic renderings of absurdity and revolution through characters that
embody philosophical concepts appealed to French audiences of the postwar period and
influenced other writers. Bradby sums up the importance of Camus's theater when he judges that
it corresponds to Sartre's definition of a "theater of situations," claiming that Camus's drama
"portrays" the contemporary realities of suffering and death" with characters that are less
interesting for their psychological motivations than for the choices they make."(Para 5)

Purpose: The stranger written by Albert Camus is a novel about humanity, love, betrayal and a
vindictive mentality. It is a very impressive and meaningful novel; it makes readers curious
about Albert Camus and wants to know more about him. What has Albert Camus been through
in his life? It creates suspense in a novel. Albert Camus’s father died in World War1.The lost of
his father had made him painfully aware the tragic effects of the war. This reminds me of
Meusualt's reaction to his mother's death. By comparison, they are acting so differently. Albert
Camus is painful when his father died but Meusault is so clam. I would assume that
Albert Camus was philosophical about death after he has been through many troubles. Albert
Camus describes Meusault's reaction to death to show that life is purposeless, without purpose,
there is no live.
 Mei 2

“Convicted Murderer Apologizes During Sentencing” Youtube. Pub.Wlkytv.15 Dec.2010. 17

Dec. 2010.

Summary: A deaf, homeless man is still waiting to hear his sentence after a jury convicted him in
the killings of two Louisville me.

Purpose: It is common sense that People would struggle to survive when they are in danger.
They would express their true feelings and start to get nervous. However in the Stranger
Meusualt is very calm and indifferent when he sentences to die. He doesn’t feel guilt at all.
Instead, he is showing his feeling when he recalls the past. He is changing from an emotionless
character to a character who is able to experience emotion. Meusualt is so weird.

Eive, Gloria. "Northward Bound: The Mexican Immigrant Experience in Ballad and Song."
MELUS 25.2 (2000): 212. Literature Resource Center. Web. 10 Dec. 2010

Summary: Mexican immigrants came to America and worked in the factories with low pay and
unsafe work conditions.

Quotation: “The United State’s less-than-meritorious treatment of the Mexican immigrants--their

frustration and loneliness in a hostile environment, their desperate efforts to survive
economically, and their tenacious resilience and humor--all these are familiar stories to
immigrants from Western and Eastern Europe and Asia. These immigrants, too, felt the conflict
between pressures to assimilate into their new culture and the need to retain their own language
and cultural identities. The soul of such people is often expressed in their music. In this well-
chosen collection of song-texts, Professor Herrera-Sobek offers us a sensitive portrait of
Mexican immigrants and new insight toward an understanding not only of the dynamics of their
position in our society, but also that of other immigrants as well. The cycle of solicitation,
exploitation, and deportation documented in the songs seems ominously prophetic today and its
universality offers little comfort"(para 6).

Purpose: Immigrants are faced many difficulties when they moved to foreign country. They
have to adjust to use another kind of money to buy products; find a job and house. The biggest
problem was language, they had difficulty speaking and understanding what to do and how to do
it. However, Albert Camus is immigrant. He moved to France during the World War I. In
fact, these hardships actually helped him became a successful writer. It would inspire the
immigrants to work harder.
 Mei 3

John Donne, "Death, to be not proud". Poetry out loud. Web.13 Dec.2010.

Summary: This poem basically says that when we die we are not technically dead for our body is
resting and our soul leave the "home" in which it was occupying and the soul lives on forever in
either another body or just in heaven. But we never technically die just taking a long rest.

Quotation: “Death, be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.
Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shall die.”

Purpose: "Death, to be not proud" is a powerful declaration against death. As humans, people are
afraid of being death; they would struggle to survive no matter what. In the stranger, Albert
Camus describes the attitude of Meusualt when he sentenced to death. Instead of struggling and
fearing, Meusualt is very calm and rational. By comparison, Meusaualt is hoping to die. It tells
us that Meusaualt‘s body is dead as well as his soul.

Lerner, Barbara. "A Michelin noir." Commentary 101.5 (1996): 49+. Literature Resource Center.
Web. 10 Dec. 2010.

Summary: After World War I, France was one of the more liberal countries in welcoming
Jewish immigrants. However, German forces invaded France on May 10. People are suffering
extreme great hardships under German.

Quotation: “Over a period of months in late 1939 and early 1940, the Allemande men--hungry,
dirty, shaken, and sick--were released. Kept under surveillance and restricted in their
movements, the men were rearrested in early May and interned a second time, mostly in the
north; their mothers, wives, and children were kept in separate camps in the south. By war's end,
 Mei 4

76,000 of France's Jews had been deported to German camps where all but 2,500 perished, and
uncounted thousands more had died in French camps” (para 4).

Purpose: Albert Camus went to France and joined the French Resistance, which fought against
Nazi occupation in World War 2 in 1942. During the war, more than 1000 of people had died in
French camps. This reminds me of Meusault’s emotionless and indifference. From Algeria to
France, Albert Camus has been through so many troubles: The lost of his father, the lost of his
friends, deaths in the Algeria and the deaths in France. Albert Camus has been trained to deal
with deaths; his ideas also are influence by experience deaths. However in the stranger
Mesusault, the main character seems to be the representation of the Albert Camus in the way he
thinks and does things. Meusault is very calm and indifferent when he faced with the death of his
mother. It reveals that life is essentially meaningless because of the inevitability of death.

Lehman, David. "Exit no exit: whatever happened to existentialism?" American Scholar 77.2
(2008): 16+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 10 Dec. 2010.

Summary: In this essay, Lehman David defines the word "existentialism" in a different way. In
postwar New York, existentialism was sexy, debonair. Everyone wanted to be existential without
knowing the meaning. But on the other hand, Lehman, David defines existentialism as a
philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness. He also reveals the differences between existential
and cool. Beside, Lehman, David also tells greatest moments in the history of existentialism.

Quotation: "According to Albert Camus, Algerian-born hero of the French Resistance,

practicing existentialism was like fishing in a bathtub. A well-meaning neighbor, thinking to
humor the fisherman in the bathtub, says, "Catch anything?" "No, you fool," the fisherman
replies. "Can't you see this is a bathtub?" Delmore Schwartz sticks with the bathtub image.
"Existentialism," he wrote, "means that no one else can take a bath for you."(Para 5)

Purpose: Existentialism is a concept that is often explored in works of literature as a way of

displaying a character’s interaction with society. Existentialist is a philosophy that emphasizes
the uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile. In The Stranger, Albert
Camus describes Meusault’s experiences with his mother’s death, his relationship with Marie;
his murder of the two Arab men, and his own trial and execution to reveals that Meusault is
soulless and heartless. Meusault doesn't care anyone and anything in his life, even his own life. It
tells us that Meusault is a stranger. He is very different from others. According to Lehman
David, Meusault is Existentialism.
 Mei 5

MARTIN, V. M. "Absurdity." New Catholic Encyclopedia. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 2003.
48-49. Gale World History In Context. Web. 14 Dec. 2010.

Summary: Absurdity is a basic notion for a number of modern thinkers. According to many
modern thinkers, the word “absurd” means clearly unreasonable and senseless. By comparison,
Albert Camus develops theory of absurd in different way. Albert Camus is saying that all people
think there is a certain type of order in a place that clearly has no order.

Quotation: “The notion was then taken up by modern thinkers, especially by existentialists, but
in an atheistic context. Thus, absurdity for Sartre arises from the absolute contingency and
complete gratuity of the world. Because there is no God, Sartre argues, there are no reasons for
things. Things just are; and because they are without any reason for being, they are absurd.
Ultimately all things come from nowhere and are going nowhere. Camus gives a different
meaning. Admitting that there are scientific explanations for the various parts of the universe,
Camus denies that there is any ultimate reason for the whole. Absurdity is a feeling that arises
from the confrontation between man, who is looking for a unified explanation of all things, and a
world that has no basic meaning” (para 3).

Purpose: According to the dictionary, the word “absurd” means ridiculously unreasonable and
lacking order or value. It reminds me of the protagonist Meusualt in The stranger. Meusualt is an
emotionless and indifferent person. At many important occasions like his mother’s funeral or
outings and nights with his girl friend Maria, Meursault doesn’t show any emotions or feelings,
as expected from a rational man. Meusualt is absurdist.

Profile: “Algeria suffering through hard economic times." Weekend Edition Sunday 12 Aug.
2001. Literature Resource Center. Web. 10 Dec. 2010

Summary: Algiers is the capital of Algeria, a North African country located along the
Mediterranean Sea. After the French captured Algiers in 1980, Algiers became the capital of
France. When the country was under French rule, the majority of Algerians are poor. War is
everywhere, so many people died in war each day, include Albert Camus’s father.

Quotation: “His wife and five children share a three-bedroom apartment with 20 other family
members. Following Algeria's independence from France in 1962, it adopted a socialist-styled
economy. Given its oil wealth, most Algerians live pretty comfortably. But after the collapse of
oil prices in the mid-'80s, Algeria went in deep debt, and in the '90s agreed to implement IMF
reforms. That meant embarking on a painful transition to a market-based economy with profound
social implications, says economist Arslan Shekowi (para 3).
 Mei 6

Purpose: Albert Camus was born in Algeria and he faces so many unpredictable and uncertain
events in Algeria. After the lost of his father, Albert Camus lives in poverty with his mother in
Algeria. At the same time, Algeria is facing the hardship. This reminds me of the setting of the
stranger and the" two Arab men". Algeria is a place where Meusault’ mother and Albert
Camus’s father died, it also is a place where Meusault kills two “Arab Men”. It seems Algeria is
a place change Meusuault’s whole life. He was born in Algeria as well as died there. I would
assume that Albert Camus wants to tell the social classes and significant in Algeria, it can also
reveal Albert Camus’s unhappy childhood in Algeria.