help with my lit project?

Question

can you help me think of a book, literary piece, movie, or philosophy that is similar to the book "the stranger" by albert camus.

if you don't know the book, it's basically this unemotional guy that is detached from society and ends of killing an arab.

please help thanks

Answer 1

It's been years since I read "The Stranger", but here are some thoughts:

"The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath has some similarities - she's also unemotional (due to depression) and feels totally disconnected from the world.

The "otherworld" series by Tad Williams has a totally detached guy in it - he kills several people. (They are great books, but long, not sure if you have time to read them before your project is due, but I recommend them anyway.

The short story "Lamb to the Slaughter" by Roald Dahl has a woman who starts feeling totally detached after her husband tells her she's leaving her. she kills him, and then goes through the motion of pretending she came home to find him murdered, feeling all the time like she's not really there.

Also, check out this link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stranger_(novel)#References_in_popular_culture

Answer 2

The only thing I know about Camus is that he's heavily influenced by the Danish philosopher Kierkegaard, and that The Cure did a song about him....

Since it's not music you're after, I'd go with Kierkegaard for the philosophic texts.

Answer 3

Perhaps these might inspire you.

The Stranger - Albert Camus

I have found 5 summaries for you to look at, via the links below.

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/stranger/

http://www.pinkmonkey.com/booknotes/monkeynotes/pmStranger01.asp

http://www.pinkmonkey.com/booknotes/barrons/strangr.asp

http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/titles/stranger/

http://litsum.com/stranger/

These links will give you a summary of the book, character analysis, plot and much more, so that you will be able to answer literary questions. A short extract is included as an example of what you can expect from the summary.

Meursault:

The narrator and main character of the narrative, he is the driving force behind Camus' examination of the Absurd. He, like the author, does not believe in God and comes to the realization that one must struggle against and with the Absurd in order to create meaning in a meaningless world. He leads a highly indifferent life through much of the book, reveling in the physical impulses which made him happy such as swimming and sex and smoking. The second half of the book turns the man who does not judge into the judged as the reader watches him indicted for the crime of not giving into society's code of morals or sense of fate and the divine. The ridiculousness of the trial and his reaction to it allows him to finally transcend its symbolic imprisonment and free himself for a life beyond what society could offer him.

http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/titles/stranger/about.html

Good luck.