Literature Atlas

How Stories Are Told
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme
Work

The Stranger

Realist and Literary Fiction

The Stranger (L'Etranger, 1942) is Albert Camus's first novel and the clearest statement of his philosophy of the absurd, following Meursault, an Algerian clerk whose flat, affectless account of his own life culminates in a killing he can barely explain even to himself. Its opening line, 'Mother died today,' is among the most famous in twentieth century fiction.

Facts
Classification
Audience
General 1
Original Language
English 1
Original LanguageSourced to the subject's own account
French 2
Composed, From (Year)
from 1909 1
Composed, From (Year)
from 1942 1
Composed, To (Year)Sourced to the subject's own account
to 1942 3
The Stranger
Filter Results1 entry
Connections

Associated With

Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
The Novella, Forms

At roughly 36,000 words and 159 printed pages, The Stranger is conventionally classified as a novella rather than a full novel.

Source Wikipedia
Additional Source The Stranger (Wikipedia)The Stranger (Camus novel)

Authored By

Albert Camus, Authors
Source Albert Camus, The Stranger (1942)

Features Character

Source Meursault (Wikipedia)Wikipedia contributors

In Genre

The Novel, Genres
Source Albert Camus, The Stranger (1942)
In the Other Atlases

Original Language

Also in Language Atlas: the original language of this subject.

Also in Language Atlas: the original language of this subject.

Originated In

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject originated.

Sources
1. The Stranger (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation (Wikipedia)
  • Introduction
    The original French-language first edition of the novella was published on 19 May 1942, by Gallimard
  • Lead
    also published in English as The Outsider, is a 1942 novella written by French author Albert Camus.
  • Associated With: The Novella, The Stranger (Camus novel)
    The Stranger... is a 1942 novella written by French author Albert Camus.
View the Source
2. Meursault (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia Foundation
  • Original language statement
    The original French-language first edition of the novella was published on 19 May 1942, by Gallimard, under its original title; it appeared in bookstores from that June but was restricted to an initial 4,400 copies, so few that it could not be a bestseller.
  • Features Character: Meursault
View the Source
3. Albert Camus, The Stranger (1942)
Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.Associated With: ExistentialismView the Source
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.