Book summary

In this stylistically simple, first-person tale of an ordinary man unwittingly drawn into a senseless murder on an Algerian beach, Camus explored what he termed "the nakedness of man faced with the absurd." Through Meursault, Camus portrays a man who rejects the beliefs and life styles imposed on him by society. The events that lead to his execution only serve to reinforce his feelings of utter isolation. A classic existentialist work, the novel influenced many of Camus's contemporaries, including Roland Barthes, Alain Robbe-Grillet, and Nathalie Sarraute.