The Architectonics of Poetic Prose in Camus’s The Stranger

Abstract

It has been stated that The Stranger embodies the experience of the Absurd while the Myth of Sisyphus provides its rationale; that is, the novel tends to invigorate the philosophy. This coalescence of philosophical “meaning” and “structure” in The Stranger has been manipulated until it has become a unified and tightly-constructed literary text. I’m using the term architectonics in the manner of discussing the literary and artistic structure in Camus’s novel especially in the way he writes his prose in conjunction with specific themes (e.g. death). The essay is a close reading of the manner in which Camus paces the novel and the manner in which he selects the words he uses.