An Ecocritical Reading of Albert Camus’ The Outsider

Abstract

This paper attempts to analyze Albert Camus’s novel The Outsider from an ecocritical perspective. With an ecocritical lens, the paper argues that nature influences the protagonist Meursault's physical and emotional state as well as acts as an active agent in the novel.  It also brings the connection between ecocriticism and two other prevalent themes of the novel: existentialism and absurdism. From an ecocritical perspective, the paper argues that freedom, an intrinsic theme of existential philosophy, conflicts and coincides with the ecocritical perspective as it shows how Meursault is bound to his physical needs indicating existential philosophy’s connection to the ecological concept of “self-in-relation”. Moreover, the paper also postulates that absurdist traits of humans can be better understood from an eco-conscious perspective. Therefore, it explains Meursault's actions as a result of his disjunctive and conjunctive response to nature. Thus, the paper encourages ecocritical reading of canonical texts to ensure synergy in literary criticism.