To Lie or Not to Lie: Revisiting Albert Camus’ The Outsider


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Authors

  • Pabitra Kumar Swain Research Scholar, Berhampur University, Berhampur, Ganjam, Odisha
  • Neeta Dubey Jr. Lecturer in English, S. B. R. Govt. Women’s College, Berhampur, Ganjam, Odisha

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53032/tcl.2020.5.3.04

Keywords:

Unmoved, Climatic, Determined, and Different

Abstract

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 his native place after the funeral, he carries on life as usual until he becomes involved in a climatic murder scene. 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. For example in court when the police man asked Meursault if “he is ‘nervous’. He said no. Infact, in a way it would be interesting to watch a trail” (Camus, The Outsider 81).

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References

Barnes, Hazel. An Existentialist Ethics. Chicago University Press, 1978.

Barrett, William. Irrational Man: a study in existential philosophy. Doubleday, 1962.

Camus, Albert. Algerian Chronicles. Harvard University Press, 2013.

- - ¬- . A Happy Death. Penguin Books, 2002.

- - ¬- . The Myth of Sisyphus. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1975.

- - ¬- . The Outsider. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 2013.

Flynn, Thomas R. Existentialism A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, 2006.

Jaspers, Karl. Philosophy of Existence. Blackwell, 1971.

Kaufamann, Walter. Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre. Thames & Hudson, 1957.

Kierkegaard, Soren. The Concept of Anxiety. Princeton University Press, 1981.

Polt, Richard. Heidegger: An Introduction. UCL Press, 1999.

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Published

2020-08-30

How to Cite

Pabitra Kumar Swain, and Neeta Dubey. “To Lie or Not to Lie: Revisiting Albert Camus’ The Outsider”. The Creative Launcher, vol. 5, no. 3, Aug. 2020, pp. 25-30, doi:10.53032/tcl.2020.5.3.04.