On Tuesday 15th November we considered “The Outsider” by Albert Camus and “The Meursault Investigation” by Algerian novelist, Kamel Daoud. You can read more about both books in our earlier post, “Compare and Contrast“.
As usual we began by asking for everyone three words to describe the books. Some used three words to describe both books, others chose different words for each book:
- Paradoxical, Hard-to-read, Enthralling (both)
- Great first sentence (both)
- Bleak, extraordinary, haunting (Camus)
- Bitty, viewpoint-shifting (Daoud)
- Chilling, easy writing (Camus)
- Warmer, harder reading (Daoud)
- Concise, honest, dazzling (Camus)
- Fate, ambiguity, metamorphosis (Daoud)
- A tad tedious (both)
- Gripping, easy reading (Camus)
- Maybe contrived (Daoud)
- Concise, orderly (Camus)
- Baffling (Daoud)
As could be expected from the range of words, a lively discussion ensued. And as usual, people came up with views about the book that others hadn’t considered. There was much discussion about the parallels in the two books, and not just that they were telling the same story from different perspectives. Camus told the story forwards, Daoud backwards. Mersault’s problems grew from his abandonment of his mother, Harun’s from his inability to break free from his. Mersault was condemned, particularly by the judge, for not showing the appropriate responses in a Catholic society. Harun was condemned by the investigator for not having killed a Frenchman during the war of liberation. Mersault seemed to be obsessed with the sea, Harun disliked and avoided it.
For the first time since the start of the pandemic we returned to a round table format, and treated ourselves to some North African pastries and wine (not Algerian).
As usual, please let us know what you think in the comments section.
Harbury Village Library & Biblios Cafe 