THE INDIFFERENT LOOK IN ALBERT CAMUS’S THE STRANGER AND DUONG NGHIEM MAU’S TUOI NUOC DOC

Abstract

French writer Albert Camus was first introduced to Vietnamese readers as an existentialist, whether he admits it or not. Duong Nghiem Mau and a number of writers of his time, living and composing in South Vietnam during the 60-70s of the twentieth century, were more or less influenced by Western thinkers, in which there was the existentialist thought of Albert Camus. Reading Tuoi nuoc doc by Duong Nghiem Mau, we find that there is an encounter with The Stranger by Albert Camus in terms of the protagonist's view of people and the times. The indifferent look dominates the entire art of building Meursault and Ngac characters in those two works. In this article, we examine the consciousness of the characters when realizing the absurdity of life, thereby giving them an “indifferent” view of the world.