A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF ALBERT CAMUS S THE STRANGER AND THE MYTH OF SISYPHUS FROM POST-COLONIAL AND RELIGIOUS PERSPECTIVES RASSOUL DJAMOUKHANOV

(1)

A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF ALBERT

CAMUS’S

THE STRANGER

AND

THE

MYTH OF SISYPHUS

FROM POST-COLONIAL AND RELIGIOUS

PERSPECTIVES

BY

RASSOUL DJAMOUKHANOV

INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY

MALAYSIA

(2)

A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF ALBERT CAMUS’S

THE STRANGER

AND

THE MYTH OF SISYPHUS

FROM POST-COLONIAL AND RELIGIOUS

PERSPECTIVES

BY

RASSOUL DJAMOUKHANOV

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the

requirement for the degree of Master of Human Sciences

(English Literary Studies)

Kulliyyah Of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and

Human Sciences

International Islamic University

Malaysia

(3)

ABSTRACT

This thesis, entitled “A Critical Analysis of Albert Camus’s L’Etranger (The Stranger,

published in 1942) and Le Mythe de Sisyphe (The Myth of Sisyphus, published in

1942) from Post-Colonial and Religious Perspectives,” concerns itself with the discussion of Albert Camus’s The Stranger and The Myth of Sisyphus. These two

works have been chosen for critical examination due to their philosophical interconnection. The major thematic preoccupations contained in these writings, such as the Absurd morality and existentialism as well as underlying motifs of The Stranger like colonialism, are brought into focus and discussed at length in this

research. The critical discussion encompasses analysis of the Absurd hero whose life is founded on the moral principles expounded in The Myth of Sisyphus. In the course

of the study, some interesting analogies have been established between Camusian absurd man and Nietzscheian superhuman; both have much in common in terms of their moral outlook and attitude towards life. Special treatment is given to the theme of colonialism which is so pronounced in The Stranger. The discussion of the morality

of the Absurd directs this study towards some metaphysical issues including the relationship between God and human beings, as well as the individual’s worldly and spiritual goals. This research points out the deficiencies of the Absurd philosophy and the detrimental consequences of nihilistic vision. The thesis traces the links between Camus’s own life and the ideas that these two works contain, and pays particular attention to his philosophical outlook and his stand towards the Algerian problem.

(4)

ﺚﺤﺒﻟا

ﺺﺨﻠﻣ

ﻴﻠﺤﺗ

ﺔﺣوﺮﻃُﻷا

ﻩﺬه

ﻞ

سﻮﻣﺎآ

تﺮﻴﺒﻝأ

ﻲﺑﺎﺘﻜﻝ

يﺪﻘﻧ

)

ﺐیﺮﻐﻝا

ﺔﻨﺳ

رﻮﺸﻨﻤﻝا

،

1942

م

(

بﺎﺘآو

)

ﻒیﺰﻴﺳ

ﻩرﻮﻄﺳأ

،

ﺔﻨﺳ

رﻮﺸﻨﻤﻝا

1942

م

(

ﺮﻈﻧ

ﺔﻬﺟو

ﻦﻣو

رﺎﻤﻌﺘﺳﻻا

ﺪﻌﺑ

ﺎﻣ

ﺮﻈﻧ

ﺔﻬﺟو

ﻦﻣ

ﺔﻴﻨید

.

سﻮﻣﺎآ

تﺮﻴﺒﻝأ

ﻲﺑﺎﺘآ

ﺔﺸﻗﺎﻨﻤﺑ

ﺔﺣوﺮﻃُﻷا

ﻩﺬه

ﻢﺘﻬﺗو

)

ﺐیﺮﻐﻝا

(

و

)

ﻒیﺰﻴﺳ

ﻩرﻮﻄﺳأ

.(

ﻼآ

ا

ﻰﻠﻋ

ﺰﻴآﺮﺘﻝاو

ﺎﻤﻬﻨﻴﺑ

ﻲﻔﺴﻠﻔﻝا

ﻂﺑاﺮﺘﻠﻝ

اﺮﻈﻧ

ﺔیﺪﻘﻨﻝا

ﺔﺳارﺪﻠﻝ

ﺎﻤهرﺎﻴﺘﺧا

ﻢﺗ

ﻦﻴﺑﺎﺘﻜﻝا

ﻻ

تﺎﻣﺎﻤﺘه

ﻝا

ﺔﺴﻴﺋﺮﻝا

ﺔﻴﻋﻮﺿﻮﻤﻝا

ﺬه

ﻲﻓ

ةدراﻮ

ی

ﺑﺎﺘﻜﻝا

ﻦ

ﻴ

ﺔﻴﺜﺒﻌﻝاو

،ﺔیدﻮﺟﻮﻝاو

،قﻼﺧﻷا

ﻞﺜﻣ

،ﻦ

،

ﻚﻝﺬآو

بﺎﺘآ

ﻲﻓ

ﺔﻨﻣﺎﻜﻝا

ﻊﻓاوﺪﻝا

)

ﺐیﺮﻐﻝا

(

اﺬه

ﻲﻓ

ﻞﻴﺼﻔﺘﻝﺎﺑ

ﻊﻓاوﺪﻝا

ﻩﺬه

ﺖﺸﻗﻮﻧ

ﺚﻴﺣ

،رﺎﻤﻌﺘﺳﻻا

ﻞﺜﻣ

ﺚﺤﺒﻝا

.

ﻞﻤﺸﺗو

ﺔﻴﺜﺒﻌﻝا

ﻞﻴﻠﺤﺗ

ﻦﻴﻠﻤﻌﻝا

ﻼﻜﻝ

ﺔیﺪﻘﻨﻝا

ﺔﺸﻗﺎﻨﻤﻝا

ﻲﻓ

ئدﺎﺒﻤﻝا

ﻰﻠﻋ

مﻮﻘﺗ

ﻲﺘﻝا

ﻞﻄﺒﻝا

ةﺎﻴﺣ

ﻤﻝا

ﺔﻴﻗﻼﺧﻷا

حﺮﺵ

ﻲﻓ

ةدﻮﺟﻮ

)

ﻒیﺰﻴﺳ

ﻩرﻮﻄﺳأ

.(

ﻓ

،ﺔﺳارﺪﻝا

ﻩﺬه

لﻼﺧ

ﻦﻣو

ﺈ

تﺎﻬﺑﺎﺸﺘﻝا

ﺾﻌﺑ

ن

ﻲﺜﺒﻌﻝا

ﻞﺟﺮﻝا

نﺎﻴﺳﻮﻣﺎآ

ﻦﻴﺑ

ﺖﻤﻴﻗُأ

،

ﻦﻣ

ﺮﻴﺜﻜﻝا

ﺎﻤﻬیﺪﻝ

نأ

ﺎﻤآ

؛نﺎﻴﻴﺸﺳﺰﺘﻴﻴﻧ

قرﺎﺨﻝا

ﻞﺟﺮﻝا

ﻦﻴﺑو

ﻷا

ﺚﻴﺣ

ﻦﻣ

ﺔآﺮﺘﺸﻤﻝا

رﻮﻣ

ﻮﺤﻧ

ﻲﻗﻼﺧﻷا

ﻩﺎﺠﺗﻻا

ةﺎﻴﺤﻝا

.

ﺖﻝوأ

ﺪﻗو

ﺔﺳارﺪﻝا

ﻩﺬه

ﺔیﺎﻨﻋ

ﺔﺹﺎﺧ

ﻤﻌﺘﺳﻻا

عﻮﺿﻮﻤﻝ

بﺎﺘآ

ﻲﻓ

ﺢﺿاو

ﻞﻜﺸﺑ

ﺮﻬﻈی

يﺬﻝا

رﺎ

)

ﺐیﺮﻐﻝا

.(

أ

ﺎﻣ

ﻠﻝ

ﺔﺒﺴﻨﻝﺎﺑ

ﺔﻴﻗﻼﺧﻷا

ﺔﺸﻗﺎﻨﻤ

ﺔﺳارﺪﻝا

ﻩﺬه

نﺈﻓ

ﺔﻴﺜﺒﻌﻝا

عﻮﺿﻮﻤﻝ

لوﺎﻨﺘﺗ

،ﺮﺸﺒﻝاو

ﷲا

ﻦﻴﺑ

ﺔﻗﻼﻌﻝا

ﻞﺜﻣ

ﺔﻴﻘیﺰﻴﻓﺎﺘﻴﻤﻝا

ﺎیﺎﻀﻘﻝا

ﺾﻌﺑ

ﻚﻝﺬآو

و

ﺔیﻮﻴﻧﺪﻝا

نﺎﺴﻧﻹا

فاﺪهأ

ﺔﻴﺣوﺮﻝا

.

ﺮﻴﺸُی

ﺚﺤﺒﻝا

اﺬه

نأ

ﺎﻤآو

أ

ًﺎﻀی

إ

ﻲﻓ

رﻮﺼﻘﻝا

ﻪﺟوُأ

ﻰﻝ

ﻠﻓ

ﺔﻘﺜﺒﻨﻤﻝا

راﺮﺿﻷا

ﺔﺠﻴﺘﻧو

ﺔﻴﺜﺒﻌﻝا

ﺔﻔﺴ

ﻋ

ﺔﻴﻣﺪﻌﻝا

ﺔﻔﺴﻠﻓ

ﻦ

.

ﻂﺑر

ﻰﻠﻋ

ﺔﺣوﺮﻃُﻷا

ﻩﺬه

ﻞﻤﻌﺗ

ﺎﻤآ

ُیو

،ﻦﻴﻠﻤﻌﻝا

ﻼآ

ﺎﻬﻠﻤﺤی

ﻲﺘﻝا

رﺎﻜﻓﻷاو

ﺔﻴﺗاﺬﻝا

ﺲﻣﻮآ

ةﺎﻴﺣ

ﻦﻴﺑ

تﻼﺼﻝا

ًﺎﻣﺎﻤﺘها

ﻰﻝﻮ

ًﺎﺹﺎﺧ

ﻪهﺎﺠﺗﻻ

،ﻲﻔﺴﻠﻔﻝا

ﺔیﺮﺋاﺰﺠﻝا

ﺔﻠﻜﺸﻤﻝا

ﻩﺎﺠﺗ

ﻪﻔﻗﻮﻣو

.

(5)

ABSTRAK

Tesis ini adalah analisis kritikal terhadap dua buku Albert Camus iaitu L`Etranger (The Stranger) dan Le Mythe de Sisyphe (The Myth of Sisyphus) dari “Pertimbangan

Perspektif Pasca Kolonial dan Agama”. Kajian berkisar kepada perbincangan dalam

The Stranger dan The Myth of Sisyphe. Kedua hasil kerja ini telah dipilih untuk

dianalisa secara kritikal merujuk kepada hubungan falsafah yang ada antara keduanya.Tema utama yang begitu penting terkandung dalam tulisan ini seperti idea Absurd iaitu “moral yang tidak munasabah” dan idea kebebasan mutlak manusia yang digarisi oleh motif “The Stranger” seperti kolonialisme menjadi perhatian dan fokus utama dalam penyelidikan ini. Analisis kritikal yang meliputi kajian terhadap hero Absurd di mana kehidupannya diasaskan oleh prinsip moral jelas tergambar melalui

The Myth of Sisuphus. Dalam pengkajian ini, beberapa analogi yang menarik

mendapati hubungan idea Albert Camus tentang ‘absurd man’ dan idea Nietzsche mengenai manusia super, kedua-duanya mempunyai persamaan dalam terma penampilan moral dan sikap kepada kehidupan. Perhatian yang lebih telah diberikan kepada tema kolonialisme yang di utarakan di dalam The Stranger. Perbincangan

mengenai moraliti idea Absurd mempunyai kaitan langsung dengan kajian ini melalui metafizik termasuk isu hubungan manusia dengan Tuhan, begitu juga ianya berkait dengan kehidupan manusia di dunia serta matlamat kerohanian. Penyelidikan ini juga menyentuh hubungan antara kehidupan Albert Camus sendiri dengan idea melalui hasil kerja beliau. Penumpuan diberikan khusus kepada gambaran falsafah beliau dan pandangannya terhadap masalah Algeria.

(6)

APPROVAL PAGE

I certify that I have supervised and read this study and that in my opinion, it conforms to acceptable standards of scholarly presentation and is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Human Sciences.

……….. Umar Abdurrahman Supervisor ……….. Nor Faridah Supervisor

I certify that I have read this study and that in my opinion it conforms to acceptable standards of scholarly presentation and is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Human Sciences.

……….. Mohammad Quayum Examiner

This dissertation was submitted to the Department of English Language and Literature and is accepted as a partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Human Sciences.

……….. Mohammad Quayum Head, Department of English language and Literature

This dissertation was submitted to the Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences and is accepted as a partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Human Sciences.

……….. Hazizan Md. Noon Dean, Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences

(7)

DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this dissertation is the result of my own investigations, except where otherwise stated. I also declare that it has not been previously or concurrently submitted as a whole for any other degrees at IIUM or other institutions.

Rassoul Djamoukhanov

(8)

INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA

DECLARATION OF COPYRIGHT AND AFFIRMATION

OF FAIR USE OF UNPUBLISHED RESEARCH

A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF ALBERT CAMUS’S THE STRANGER AND

THE MYTH OF SYSIPHUS FROM POST-COLONIAL AND RELIGIOUS

PERSPECTIVES

N

o part of this unpublished research may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior written permission of the copyright holder except as provided below.

1. Any material contained in or derived from this unpublished research may only be used by others in their writing with due acknowledgement 2. The IIUM or its library will have the right to make and transmit copies

(print or electronic) for institutional and academic purpose

3.

The IIUM library will have the right to make, store in a retrieval system and supply copies of this unpublished research if requested

by

other universities and research libraries.

Affirmed by Rassoul Djamoukhanov.

……….. ……….. Signature Date

(9)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

All praise be to Allah (swt) Who taught us what we knew not. I seek His protection and guidance always.

I would like to thank my supervisor Dr. Umar Abdurrahman and co-supervisor Dr. Nor Faridah. Their patience, guidance and support helped me see this thesis through. I also wish to express my appreciation for Prof. Syed Nasir Kazmi’s assistance and valuable advice. Special thanks go to Prof. Quayum. His excellent suggestions helped me improve this work in many ways. My family support was very important to me. I want to thank my brother Suleiman and my sister-in-law Aminah. Their encouragement and unflagging assistance were indispensable in carrying out this thesis. My brother Faisal’s insightful suggestions and expertise in philosophy enlightened me on many issues, so I wish to thank him too. And finally, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to my mother to whom I am forever indebted. She has been an inexhaustible source of inspiration to me, and always made me strive for the best.

(10)

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Muslims have long been presented, or rather misrepresented, in the Western mass media as trigger-happy, blood-thirsty terrorists, extremists and fundamentalists whose very presence threatens the democratic world order. The roots of antagonism between Islamic East and the West can be approximately traced back to the 11th century, the time of the Crusades, and since then the deliberate and purposeful defamation of Islam in the West has been going on unabated. Philip Hitti in Islam and the West (1962:49)

argues that the negative image of Islam runs through the Western medieval literature presenting “the Prophet as an impostor, the Qur’an as his pretentious fabrication and Islam as a licentious way of life.” A similar image is sustained in Syro-Byzantine, Hispano-French, Siculo-Italian and Crusading literatures, both oral and written. In the eighth century, Hitti writes (1960:49-50), a learned Syrian divine St. John of Damascus (d.749) referred to Islam as an idolatrous religion propagated by a false prophet who drew on biblical sources. In the tradition of St. John, Theophanes the Confessor (758-818) in his Chronographia reiterates the same point and accuses the

Prophet of being a pretender. The early renditions of the Holy Qur’an into Latin, Spanish and French were supplemented with condemnatory statements discarding Islam and its teachings as utterly false concoctions. Hitti reports that anti-Muslim tradition had become so pronounced and fossilised in the Crusading period that it was almost impossible to change.

(12)

Today, Islam is still misconstrued as “human, democratic, anti-Semitic, anti-rational” (Said, 1980: 5). For the Western mind, Islam is not only the menace of return to the Middle Ages but also a destructive threat to democracy. Edward Said (1980) in his article “Islam Through Western Eyes” writes that the intellectual community in the United States has considerably reinforced and saturated the gross image of Islam as a destructive force to modern society.

Said argues that in the Western media, Islamic world is intentionally simplified and reduced to a two-faceted image: in the foreground there are a radically-minded, tyrannical rulers, while the background remains filled with “the frightening notions of jihad, slavery, subordination of women and irrational violence” (Said, 1980:5). He (1980:7) observes that in these abridged and densely packaged media images “the whole swatches of Islamic history, culture, society and humanity” are simply eliminated and made non-existent. Muslims and Arabs are generally pictured as obscure mass of “scimitar-waving oil suppliers” (5). These deformed and distorted caricatures of the Islamic world are introduced in such a way as “to make that world vulnerable to military aggression” (Said, 1980: 4). Today’s hostility towards and direct military aggression against Muslims due to the media’s falsifications are construed by non-Muslims as unavoidable acts intended to protect the Western democracy and eliminate the danger constantly emanating from the bigoted fanatics. The fact that the annihilation of Muslims in Palestine, Bosnia, Chechnya, Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon, goes almost unopposed on the part of the Westerners and that the sufferings of Muslims generally leave them unmoved is the direct result of the mass media’s efforts to denigrate Islam and humiliate its adherents. Today’s mass media has not only succeeded in distorting Islam but also making the aggression against Muslim countries look like a legitimate, morally justifiable action caused by sheer necessity of self-protection.

(13)

There is a resemblance of today’s Islamophobia in Camus’s L’Etranger (The

Stranger) in which Arabs are seen as a menace to the serene and carefree life of

Europeans. Camus’s literary technique gradually reinforces a ghost-like, frightening image of Arabs. Unlike European protagonists, they lack proper names and even human features. They exist in the margins of society, lurking somewhere in the background, always foreshadowing disaster. The writer gradually leads his reader to believe that the elimination of this threat is no crime at all because there is something inhuman about them. Conor Cruise O’Brien (1970: 25), who is said to be one of the harshest critics of Camus in the English-speaking world, states that, “the reader does not quite feel that Meursault has killed a man. He has killed an Arab.” One may object by saying that such interpretation of The Stranger is a distortion of the novel which is

meant to be read and understood within the context of the absurdist philosophy as a book on human condition. But the examination of the philosophical aspect without taking into consideration the colonial theme of the novel, would be an incomplete and deficient approach. The novel discloses the tense relationship between Europeans and Arabs in the country once called French Algeria. Whatever the philosophical motifs of

The Stranger are, they cannot obscure the major events that constitute the plot.

An Arab woman is brutally beaten up by Meursault’s friend Raymond. The victim’s brother seeking revenge fights and wounds Raymond. Meursault gets involved and shoots the Arab dead by firing five shots into him. Despite this glaring injustice on the part of the European protagonists, we are told by some critics to overlook the core events and focus instead on the underlying philosophical message of the novel. In this regard, Cruise O’Brien (1970: 25) observes that:

Everyone - Meursault himself, the court and the author - treats the actual killing and the sordid transactions which prepare the way for it

(14)

irrelevant; in fact it can hardly be done unless one is led in some way to regard the man as not quite a man.

By depersonalizing the Arabs and reducing them to featureless creatures, Camus’s literary technique incapacitates or blocks readers’ emotional response to the act of killing. The death of the Arab does not evoke the feelings of pity and sympathy simply because the readers cannot feel sorry for someone who is pictured as a stuffed dummy rather than a human being. One may wonder why Camus picked an Arab for the role of a sacrificial lamb and not a French-Algerian. The answer lies, at least partly, in the fact that Camus uses the Arabs as “a convenient backdrop to a series of wholly European preoccupations” (Thody, 1989:68). Nevertheless, while reading The

Stranger, especially its final chapters, one can’t help sympathising with the

protagonist whose untimely end seems to be deplorable. We feel sorry for him mainly because his train of thoughts is foregrounded and directly introduced to us. The reader is brought face to face with a man on death row who is about to step over the edge and face the moment of supreme truth. He shares with the reader his hopes and fears. He tells the story of his simple and unassuming life free from any aspirations and expectations; he lives appreciating the simple pleasures of life and we want him to live on. But, if for the sake of objectivity, one examines the novel critically one should not miss the obvious point that Meursault is being punished for the murder of a man, although the victim’s life and name remain obscure. That Arab is dehumanised, reduced to a shapeless figure, robbed of his native land and finally gunned down by the offspring of the colonizers, the same colonizers who had been annihilating in the name of a civilising mission, thousands of nameless Algerians whose lives were by no means less precious than those of Europeans.

(15)

This paper intends to reinforce the idea that colonial space is a breeding ground for crime, violence and cruelty. It also asserts that the colonial rule fashions the law that favours the colonizer and abuses the colonized. In the subjugated countries where the moral and legal restraints are not strongly enforced, colonizer acts as he deems necessary showing little or no respect for the indigenous population. The absence of societal checks emboldens the oppressor’s mind by awakening brutal and savage instincts in it. This idea is further accentuated through the comparison between Meursault of The Stranger and Kurtz of Heart of Darkness. Both characters treat the

natives as non-humans whose suffering and death is of little significance if at all. Kurtz believes that the natives are the brutes to be exterminated when Meursault perceives them as nonentities. This analogy shows the like-mindedness that exists

between colonizers and their belief in the superiority of one racial group over another.

Camus’ treatment of the Arabs in The Stranger and his political stance

regarding the independence of Algeria will be discussed in this research. For the immediate purpose it will suffice to say that Camus never stood up for Algerian cause nor did he ever condemn the use of torture by French army against Algerians suspected of terrorism (Thody,1989). His overt humanistic outlook and his “deeply moral nature,” were not generous enough to admit that the only solution to the predicament of Muslims was independence of Algeria. However, he did condemn the inefficiency of the French administrative system and wrote several articles describing the plight of Algerians from the hunger-stricken Kabyllia district. However, Camus vehemently opposed the nationalist demands put forward by pro-independence Algerians (Thody, 1989). In Culture and Imperialism, Edward W. Said (1993:179)

(16)

This thesis, after examining The Stranger, turns to the analysis of the

philosophical essay Le Mythe de Sisyphe (The Myth of Sisyphus) which explores

human condition and seeks to answer the ultimate questions regarding human existence. At the outset, the essay poses a critical question on whether life is worth living or should be voluntarily terminated. Brought face to face with this absurd world, a person longs for the answers that would clarify his position and purpose in this universe, but being unable to find the satisfactory explanations he or she succumbs to despair. The very irrationality of human existence with regard to the world triggers this desperate dilemma of life’s worthiness or worthlessness. This seemingly futile existence, devoid of purpose drives a person to the brink of despair and makes him contemplate suicide out of sheer despondency and hopelessness. In an attempt to provide a meaning to this meaningless existence, some philosophers commit, as Camus puts it, “Philosophical suicide” by espousing rationality with irrational beliefs in God and afterlife. For Camus, an ideal or authentic individual is one who rejects suicide, both physical and philosophical, and heroically accepts his/her human condition without resorting to self-deceptive, religious illusions. However, this harsh reality with no consolation of eternal life offers freedom of action and choice and imposes no moral standards which would restrict individual’s life and confine it to the set of outworn conventional values.

Most critics are in agreement that The Myth of Sisyphus is an elucidation on

The Stranger and serves as a philosophical underpinning of the novel. If we read The

Stranger from the conventional point of view, as a work about human condition and

analyse it along the lines of morality of the Absurd propounded in The Myth of

Sisyphus as an alternative to the traditional religious and social morality, then some

(17)

morality, Mersault’s behaviour is less shocking because he manifests an attitude of a man who has suddenly seen this world stripped of the false illusions and hopes, in its stark nakedness. This is an attitude of an enlightened absurd man who discovered some profound truth and found out that this life is all what we possess and that afterlife is a self-deception. In the first part of The Stranger, Meursault feels this absurdity of

existence at a subconscious level without being fully aware of it. But later, this vague, unrecognized awareness surfaces when he is about to lose his life, so at the end he declares: “Nothing, nothing had the least importance….”(152). The meaninglessness of life which Meursault had always felt accounts for his profound emotional detachment and sterility. Metaphorically, Camus equates our daily routine of working from Mondays through Saturdays with the aimless drudgery of Sisyphus who, according to a Greek myth, is condemned to roll a boulder for eternity up to the mountain top just to watch it roll down again. Thus, Camus’s absurd hero is the one who recognizes the futility of existence but stoically goes on living against all odds. The hero defies the divine or any transcendent powers and creates his life in “the midst of the desert” investing the life with meaning. This rebellious negation of external moral order, disbelief in divine providence, and awareness of life’s pointlessness are the major features of the Camusian hero who continues to live incessantly challenging his futile existence. This is what the metaphysical revolt implies.

The greatness of Camus’s achievement lies in the fact that in The Stranger he

managed to capture the spiritual disorientation that was so conspicuous in the first part of the 20th century. The novel conveys with a great degree of subtlety the situation of a contemporary man who ceased to see his life in relation to any kind of transcendent reality. The Stranger reflects the anguish and disenchantment of the generation thrown

(18)

Western man who had done away with the idea of God found himself fluttering in the existential void deprived of familiar guidance and moral bearings. Kolenda (1982:136) points out that Meursault can be construed as an embodiment of “a contemporary hollow man who is adrift in his valueless solitariness.” His emotional sterility, lack of ambition and animal self-centeredness indicate that he “does not see his existence as related to any deeper source of meaning” (Kolenda,1982:125). Meursault’s sense of integrity is radically different from the conventionally accepted ethical norms. His moral frame of reference is influenced by his senses and it fluctuates according to his immediate state of mind. His inner moral code is never static. It is always in the process of becoming without ever taking any ultimate, final form. Meursault has neither regrets related to the past nor ambitions linked to the future. His faculties operate on physical level unable to rise above the immediacy of the moment. Such an emotionally drained person perfectly fits into Camusian theory of the absurd. The death of the closest person leaves him untouched; love never stirs his imagination, his friendship lacks affinity. He is a passive lover, unreliable son, ambitionless employee and unwilling murderer. As a modern messiah uninhibited by religious sanctions he is an archetypal absurd hero whose coming was foretold in Nietzschean prophecies. Meursault finds refuge in his own world because the world around him is full of hypocrisy and pretence. He is unwilling to be part of this self-deception and instead takes his sense of honesty as his guide. But this alternative life of his and the morals on which it is based are perverted too. Meursault indulges in gratification of his momentary wishes without giving much thought to the consequences. Lacking innerness and principles he just slides through his life recording sensations. The course of life he chooses dulls his powers of perception to

(19)

Though Camus tried to disassociate himself from existentialist philosophers (Kamber,2002), his mode of reasoning exhibits existential mindset as the essay reveals. The doom and gloom felt throughout his philosophical discourse reflects the all-pervasive pessimism of the war-torn Europe. The impact of the two world wars was so powerful that faith in transcendental nature was shaken to the extent that many people turned away from Christianity. The Myth of Sisyphus, published in 1942, was

extremely popular due to the fact that Camus managed to address this moral decline and despondency of the post-war generation and, at the same time, to assert life stripped of illusions and comforting doctrines. He views human existence as utterly meaningless and hopeless. Camus relentlessly attacks religion and those who cling to religious values. The only reality, Camus maintains, is the reality of the here and now, whereas the unverifiable notions about the hereafter are dismissed as debilitating concoctions. Apart from the two devastating world wars which marked the first half of

the 20th century, Camus’s physical condition, living “under the shadow of

tuberculosis,” as James Christian (2002: 451) noted in Wisdom Seekers, added to the

deep pessimism of his writings.

Though Camus’s bitterness and resentment are understandable, his reasoning however, cannot be accepted. Camus tries to set forward a humane moral vision while strenuously arguing in the manner of Nietzsche. The absurd mind dismisses out of hand the existence of God and hope of eternal life, and those who adhere to such beliefs according to Camus are “donkeys” who “feed on the roses of illusion” (Myth,

43). His absurd man negates everything that goes beyond the perception of his senses revealing highly materialistic attitude to life: “What I touch, what resists me – that is what I understand” (Myth, 51), and adds: “I have no concern with ideas or with the

(20)

83). Camus’s earthbound philosophy is incapable of conceiving the existence of another dimension to life, therefore: “The perception of an angel or a god has no meaning” for him (Myth, 47). Crime, Camus reasons, is not recommended, but we

never hear him say that it is forbidden; therefore, Meursault, the incarnation of the absurd man, does commit a crime and never feels bad about it because the absurd “restores to remorse its futility,” one can be responsible but not guilty. Camus philosophises by saying that the notion of sin is beyond his comprehension and therefore that state of blissful ignorance makes him feel innocent and “allows him everything” (Myth, 53). Thus, if life is utterly meaningless and valueless then murder

and violence are neither right nor wrong. The absurdist morality then implies the equal legitimacy of killing and cure, therefore, some militant regimes find in such theories a philosophical authorization and justification for the atrocities they commit.

Belief in God constitutes an important and integral part of human existence. Rejection of this inborn need to worship God creates void which some people fill with surrogate beliefs in human being’s omnipotence. Camus through repudiation of religion embraced nihilism but still felt the dissatisfaction with the answers it gave. Eventually, he found some solace in moderate nihilism fused with the aggrandizement of man. This paper discloses the detrimental effects of moral disorientation brought about by nihilistic philosophy at both individual and societal levels. The moral bankruptcy experienced at the macro-level is illustrated by describing the belligerent atheism of Communist Russia and Nazi Germany, whereas, the spiritual crisis at an individual level is shown by referring to the philosophy of the absurd.

(21)

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

What different existentialist thinkers have in common is their deep concern with human existence manifested through their reflections upon human life and human being’s relationship with God and the universe. Despite the methodological differences in interpretation of existence, existential thinkers share common ground because all of them were puzzled at different times by the fundamental philosophical question ‘What is Being?’ and ‘What is the relationship between being and Being?’(Britannica1989: 623). All of them set out to solve these fundamental philosophical questions using various intellectual approaches and strategies. The key figures of the philosophical movement (who belong to atheistic as well as to Christian schools of existentialism) have shown considerable insight into human condition. Their contribution to the development of philosophical as well as theological thought is substantial and profound. The philosophical discourses that bear on existence, individual, society, authenticity, truth and meaning (or meaninglessness) of life show their extreme preoccupation with the philosophical issues which touch us all.

However, existential philosophy, initially based on theology, gradually moved away from religion and became chiefly atheistic in its nature. The excessive stress on individual freedom and on subjective, individual inclinations, the exaggerated emphasis on personal desires and sensual experiences, the rejection of religion, and blatant disregard for societal institutions, norms and morals border on hedonism and egotism and therefore necessitate some kind of response. These highly introspective tendencies can be construed as means of avoiding responsibility and escaping from communal duties in egotistical pursuit of personal leanings and needs eventually leading to the spiritually destitute and morally corrupt materialistic society.

(22)

Camus’s philosophical works as well as works of fiction exhibit this existential frame of mind. He propounds a morality of the Absurd and outlines the features of the Absurd hero who lives according to this morality. His life and inner code are held up as a role-model, as an example worthy of imitation. In Camus’s philosophy, religion is discarded as unreasonable illusion and self-deception. Instead, the Absurd morality is offered as the only rational alternative in this irrational world. According to Camus, the Absurd morality stems from the absurdity of life which has no meaning, and therefore, the task of the Absurd hero is to furnish this life with value and significance through his or her personal action, choice and responsibility.

The philosophical discourse and its detrimental implications recall one of the Nietzschean admonitions to “remain faithful to earth” and be wary of “otherworldly hopes.” The latent hazard of the absurd philosophy lies in the fact that quite often radical regimes (such as, the Nazi regime, or Stalinist dictatorship) adopt the ethical and ideological creeds set forth in such philosophical doctrines. In many ways the absurd philosophy of Camus subscribes to the worldview of Nietzsche who openly preached the nobility of barbarism and cruelty.

1.3 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The examination of The Stranger and The Myth of Sisyphus is based on detailed

textual analysis of these two works. Since the research on the one hand deals with a work of fiction and on the other hand with a philosophical essay on Absurdity, the approach is twofold though not different because the fictional work derives from the philosophy set forth in the essay. This research takes stock of some critical literature on Camus produced by Conor O’Brien, John Cruickshank, Joseph McBride, Philip Thody and Philip Rhein; it also accentuates the treatment of the Arabs in The Stranger

(23)

taking into account the political situation in Algeria. The Agony of Algeria by Stone,

Transition in Algeria by Tayeb, The Wretched of the Earth by Fanon and Culture and

Imperialism by Edward Said provide the historical facts related to Algeria and give

insights into the colonial issues. The paper also examines the Absurd philosophy within the framework of Existential thought and foregrounds its major concerns. The analysis cursorily touches on some Nietzschean philosophical ideas and traces their impact on Camus’s writings. Some dangerous aspects of the Absurd philosophy and its political repercussions are pointed out in the course of the research. Due to the thematic connections, the discussion of The Myth of Sisyphus necessitates the brief

reference to The Rebel. The subject-matter of Camus’s philosophy is existence or

non-existence of God, human mortality, human nature, notions of good and evil and moral values, themes that necessarily lead to the realm of religion. The metaphysical discussion is based on the works of some Muslim as well as non-Muslim theologians and scholars, such as Imam Al-Ghazali, Naquib Al-Attas, Ismail Al-Faruqi, Abu Suleiman, C. S. Lewis and Patrick Glynn.

1.4 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

One of the objectives of this thesis is to analyze Camus’s two arguably existential works The Stranger and The Myth of Sisyphus by reiterating their undercurrent motifs

and probing into their philosophical and political themes from Islamic and post-colonial perspectives. Another objective is to examine the issue of meaninglessness and absurdity of life, repeatedly raised in Camus’s works, and to find reasonable explanations that would show the irrelevance of the Absurd theory. This paper, however, is intended to undermine neither the novels’ nor the essay’s significance or

(24)

the objective appraisal of his philosophical and scholarly visions by foregrounding the writer’s concerns so poignantly expressed in these writings. Another objective is to summarize the major themes and characteristics of existentialism and to mention briefly its history and development. To understand Camus, we must consider the evolution of his thought within the framework of the existential philosophy because his reflections are closely related and influenced by the doctrine, and his writings exemplify this.

This thesis deals with Camus’s tragic humanism and sheds some light on his pessimistic vision of life exacerbated by the tragic events of World War II. Camus’s early and arguably most popular book, The Stranger is approached from the viewpoint

of philosophical and political implications that literary work offers. Since the discussion inevitably leads to the theme of colonialism and racialism owing to the book’s setting and plot, Algerian colonial history has been reviewed to a certain extent. Finally, this thesis focuses on the major issues of the philosophy of the Absurd and exposes its atheistic and sacrilegious concepts. It also demonstrates its detrimental effects.

1.5 LITERATURE REVIEW

Richard Kamber’s On Camus (2002) overviews Albert Camus’s major works such as

The Stranger, Caligula, The Myth of Sisyphus, The Plague and The Fall from

philosophical point of view. The author traces the evolvement of Camus’s philosophical thought starting from his graduate thesis Christian Metaphysics and

Neoplatinism. In his study of The Myth of Sisyphus, Kamber objectively evaluates the

essay and makes critical remarks exposing some flaws in the work. Kamber critically examines philosophical ideas scattered throughout Camus’s works by pointing out the