The Outsider, Albert Camus

Dazed by the Sun

Meursault kills an Arab and is sentenced to death. Because of the sun, he says, because it was hot.

Meursault, the main protagonist in Albert Camus’ novel, is a social outsider. Through a combination of his pathetic daily existence, absurd social conventions, and the ridiculous randomness of life, he slowly loses his way, his gradual marginalization also manifesting itself through the deep relationship he has with the natural elements, particularly the sun.

Under Camus’ pen, it causes fatigue and dizziness, suffocates and leads Meursault astray, and contributes to his murderous actions: “The sky was already filled with light. The sun was beginning to bear down on the earth [...] I was hot in my dark clothes”, “with the sun bearing down, making the whole landscape shimmer with heat, it was inhuman and oppressive.”

Published in 1942, The Outsider (L'Etranger, in French) was the first novel by Albert Camus (1913–1960) to be published in his lifetime, marking his career as an author. In this seminal work, both politically and aesthetically, the writer succeeds in making the reader feel the power of the elements and their impact on human sensibility and behavior.