Philisophical Background of The Stranger Essay - 1436 Words

Camus’ The Stranger Its Philosophical Background Albert Camus’ novel, The Stranger, appealed to a younger European generation that was trying to find its view of life after the tragedies of WWII and Nazism. Though he eventually came to more mature notions of how a human being should act before his tragic death from a accident in 1960, Camus always believed in the ideas expressed in The Stranger that man must find his own meaning in life, separate from religious or political doctrine. While he was brought up a Catholic, he largely rejected religious authority and he opposed any rigid political authority because of his experiences with totalitarianism. Marxism and Communism were popular political ideas in France at the time, but Camus†¦show more content†¦Existentialism emphasized the freedoms that humans have and the need to exercise their individual human will in responsible ways. His philosophy tended to be atheistic and Camus himself rejected all religion. The existentialists borrowed many of their basic ideas fr om the 19th century German Nietzsche, although there also were Christian types of existentialism derived from the work of Kierkegaard. Existentialism reacted against more standard philosophies such as rationalism and empiricism that looked to find some order in the universe and in human affairs. The atheist Mersault’s denial of any rational meaning to his life represents this idea in fictionalized form Camus’ philosophy seems to have come out of his personal experience. He grew up poor in Algeria but seemed to recognize from a young age that even the poor could appreciate the beauty of nature. It has been noted, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica that his early essays were â€Å"intensely lyrical meditations on the Algerian countryside. He valued natural beauty as something even poor people like himself could enjoy.† His early writings also â€Å"contrast the fragile mortality of human beings with the enduring nature of the physical world.† Camusâ⠂¬â„¢ interest in the physical world, as opposed to social life or emotions, is well displayed in The Stranger. In the novel, Mersault is interested in reactions of his own body, his sexual