"Today mom has died. Or maybe yesterday, I do not know."
So hello, good morning, good evening, good night, whenever you are watching this video.
Welcome!
Today I'd like to talk about the by the way first book I had read in French, "The Stranger" by Albert Camus.
And I would like to ask the question if life is really absurd?
So for those who don't know, Albert Camus is born in French Algeria.
And his first novel plays in the 1940s when Algeria was still French.
And Albert Camus had this philosophy of absurdity.
It's even visible in the first two sentences of the book with it's central character, Meursault (what can mean: die, moron!)
Today mom has died. Or maybe yesterday, I do not know.
So it's not really important, so someone is dead, but it doesn't matter that he is dead or when.
So it's not important.
And I think... of course I cannot tell all the details of the story, I cannot tell the end.
It's not a really big story, it's 150 or 160 pages, I am not certain.
So if you are a foreigner/stranger...
...oh the irony.
But yes, if you are a foreigner like me and if you've never read a book in French, it is a really good start.
Reading not a too long story and the language is not so difficult.
So if you are foreigner like me, I really recommend "The Stranger" to start with French literature.
Hence something we notice when we read "The Stranger" is that Camus in general had this philosophy of absurdity.
It's also visible in his other books like "The Myth of Sisyphus".
This absurdity in the first two sentences like today mom has died and the next day Meursault will have fun with his girlfriend.
So is it really absurd or not?
What I like about this book as well as in general is that later we think about something, it lets us think.
So about life, like Sigmund Freud said that we all think we're immortal,
but later when someone dies, we always see the news that someone is dead,
either someone famous or someone from the family,
we all think that we are immortal, but later we realise that it's not like that when someone is dead or ill.
We will all leave.
That's the absurdity of life, we can have a fortune, we can have the biggest empire in the world,
but sooner or later we will all part.
So this absurdity that someone is dead, this tragedy, is it really one that someone died?
Or not really?
Someone has died and it's like that, we can't change it, it's like with Meursault's mom.
Someone has left and it's like that, we cannot do anything against it.
Or the fact, Sigmund Freud also said, I don't remember the exact words, I read him maybe three, four years ago, I am not sure anymore.
Is it really worth it that the life expectancy is at 80, 90 years or having even 100 years when life is sad?
So maybe you've read the news with the Australian mathematician having 101 years of age.
All his family was dead, his wife, their children, so he went to Switzerland to die.
Is it really good? Is it moral, Christian, I don't know the details, I don't follow the discussion.
Is it really good to receive aid/euthanasia? Is it really good?
But... well, as you see, this book makes us think, I really don't want to tell all the details of the novel
or all my thoughts, you'll be bored with me:)
I cannot tell all of that, but, if I cannot tell the end, I can do tell the central event of the book
when Meursault murders an Arab.
It's also somehow absurd, he's an Arab, but he hasn't got a name or surname.
He is, how we say in Arabic, a so-and-so (فلان).
He is dead, yes, he's got a nation, but he's dead.
When one dies, be it an Australian, a German, a Spaniard, an Englishman, it doesn't matter.
If someone's dead, he's dead, the nation, the religion no longer matters.
We can think that our religion or nation are the biggest, but in the end we will all die.
It's like that.
Yes, as you see, the book makes us think, it's really a fantastic book.
So I can really recommend this book, especially if you haven't read anything in French and if you really want to do it.
It was a beautiful experience reading "The Stranger" by Camus and I think that you'll like that book.
And of course I cannot really answer this question I had asked.
Let's say that it's an open question.
That is, is life really absurd or not? I cannot answer it. Is it really like that? Perhaps.
But it's something everyone, all of you should answer for yourselves.
So is it really absurd? Is it really worth it, what for having money, gold, whatever if we all die?
So is life really absurd? I won't answer this question, it's a really philosophical question.
Everyone should think ... well, of course above all read the book:)
and later the book will let you think.
Is life really absurd or not?
It's really like that, everyone should answer for him- or herself, is life really absurd?
Is it worth it having a good life and having all the fortune of the world, is it really worth having all of that?
It's really a question everyone should answer for him- or herself.
So I hope that I've said everything.
As I said, I don't want to share my thoughts for 30, 40, 50 minutes which I've got in my head.
I don't want to tell everything and say to you that it's the truth and that's it.
No no, everyone will think for him- or herself and it's really a book I'd like to read again in another language or in French again.
Or I would like to read other books of his work
to see why he received the Noble Price for Literature as well as to see why he's still read today
or why's we read his books at school, especially in France, I suppose. I really want to see that.
I want to read more by Camus and as you see, the book really influences.
Later we think and we ask something we would normally, if we didn't read this book, not ask ourselves.
I really like that.
So I really like this type of books when we read something and we think about life, our relations, anything.
It's really something I truly love.
So thank you so much for your attention, so I leave you with the recommendation of reading "The Stranger".
It's truly a book I like a lot.
And yeah, read the book and you'll think or you'll perhaps answer the question for yourselves.
Is life absurd or not?
Thanks for your attention, see you very soon, bye!
