Camus’ Absurdity and Psychoanalysis: A Return to “The Stranger” upon Reading Haber’s “Intimate Strangers”

Abstract

I begin with a not so empathic inquiry into Camus’ fictional character Mersault, examining the extent to which I think it is primarily the character’s Absurdist (and therefore amoral) philosophy that moves him to take another man’s life, or whether Mersault’s actions could also be understood in terms of a history of personal trauma and loss even though not spelled out in the novel itself. I then discuss the paper “Intimate Strangers” (published in this issue of the journal), the reading of which is what sent me back in 2019 to reconsider the 1942 Camus novel. I end with some thoughts about the relationship between Kohut’s theory and Absurdist philosophy plus some general musings about psychoanalysis, Camus and Mersault.