Quotation
Last reviewed:
“I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world.”
Albert Camus · Absurdism · Modern · 1942
What does it mean?
Meursault, at the end, opens himself to the gentle indifference of the world. It is a last night before execution, and the indifference is not cruel in his telling. It is kin to him. A rival reading takes the line as Camus's philosophy of not caring, a sociopath's moral. The novel is not the essay, and Meursault is not a spokesman sent to define the absurd, though the kinship is real. Gilbert's 'benign indifference of the universe' is a different music. Ward's 'gentle' and 'world' are the sentence this card quotes.
Did Albert Camus really say this?
The library’s label is Paraphrase or translation. Matthew Ward's English. Stuart Gilbert, the older translator, has 'the benign indifference of the universe'. Both render Meursault at the end of the novel. The card uses Ward because the sentence as worded is his. Do not attribute Ward's cadence to Gilbert.
Where it comes from
The Stranger, end of part 2, in Matthew Ward's translation
Approximate date: 1942.
How to use it
After a verdict, or after a smaller ending, a person on a bus in London feels the city not hostile and not concerned. The sentence is that feeling in a condemned man's mouth. Borrowing it for a bad week at work flattens the novel. Noticing the difference between Gilbert's universe and Ward's world is the sort of check this library is for. The feeling can be named without stealing the last page.
A mindset reading
Name the translator or you will 'correct' one English with the other and think the book changed. The French is one. The famous English sentences are two. Both are translations. Neither is a proverb Camus published as a maxim.
Understand the philosophy
The Stranger, 1942, is a novel. The Myth of Sisyphus is the essay of the same year. They are not interchangeable. Meursault's indifference and Sisyphus's happiness are cousins. Cousins are not the same person.
- meaning
- death
- self
FAQ
What does it mean?
Meursault, at the end, opens himself to the gentle indifference of the world. It is a last night before execution, and the indifference is not cruel in his telling. It is kin to him. A rival reading takes the line as Camus's philosophy of not caring, a sociopath's moral. The novel is not the essay, and Meursault is not a spokesman sent to define the absurd, though the kinship is real. Gilbert's 'benign indifference of the universe' is a different music. Ward's 'gentle' and 'world' are the sentence this card quotes.
Did Albert Camus really say this?
Paraphrase or translation. Matthew Ward's English. Stuart Gilbert, the older translator, has 'the benign indifference of the universe'. Both render Meursault at the end of the novel. The card uses Ward because the sentence as worded is his. Do not attribute Ward's cadence to Gilbert.
Which work is it in?
The Stranger, end of part 2, in Matthew Ward's translation Approximate date: 1942.