Dualisms in Albert Camus’ The Stranger（双重性阿尔贝·加缪的陌生人）.pdfVIP

Dualisms in Albert Camus’ The Stranger By Peter Francev Albert Camus’ most famous, and easily recognizable, novel is L’etranger (The Stranger); and in the United States, it is widely read among high school students in advanced placement English courses, as well as in some introductory literature and philosophy courses at the college and university levels. While it is the opinion of the author that the vast majority of high school English teachers fail to discern and clarify the multi-layered complexities of The Stranger and, therefore, should not be teaching it; it does, indeed, give teachers and students alike the satisfaction, at least, of having read an existential or philosophical work, as well as a means to an end as an introduction to the broader spectrum of European literature. What is most bothersome and troubling is how so many teachers feel that they are qualified to lead adolescents through their first discussions of philosophy based on this complex and fascinating work. Thus, it is, then, the purpose of this paper not to do what has been done so many times before, -analyze the absurd- nor is it an attempt to critique those who neglect to see the complexities of the text, but instead look at the deeper, more intricate, meanings that Camus places in the novel. Therefore, I propose that it is Camus’ intention to create The Stranger as a novel of duality, layering it with a plethora of dualisms that enable the reader to deconstruct its hidden meanings than that of the armchair philosopher perplexed and still questioning the absurd. As stated above, this paper will not be a re-hashing of Camus’ philosophy of the absurd, but rather it will examine, under close scrutiny, how Part 1 differs from Part 2 while keeping in mind the following dualisms: the f