The Meursault Investigation, originally published in French in 2014, was written by Daoud in respond to Camus’ 1942 novel, The Stranger. The epicenter of both novels is the murder of an Algerian Arab, left unidentified in The Stranger and given the identity of Musa in The Meursault Investigation, committed by Meursault. Harun, The Meursault Investigation’s narrator, proves to be narratively quite similar to Meursault and faces severe repercussions following his brother’s death, which ultimately leads him to form a narrative voice that is analogous to Camus’ existentialist narrator. These repercussions primarily include a stiffening relationship with his mother following the loss of his brother and a concerning relationship with the society
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Camus’ Meursault truly is apathetic towards the murder, feeling remorse solely for his individual loss of freedom rather than lamenting the loss of life attributed to his hand. Meursault, in the end, is truly isolated and alone. He commits the murder by himself and without any real motivation, despite his insinuation that the sun somehow forced his hand. He never inquires the name of his victim, referring to the ambiguous dead man only as, “the Arab.” Harun, however, is directly influenced by his mother and premediates the murder of Joseph Larquais. He claims that his mother chose Larquais as a “sacrificial victim,” (Daoud 111) and that he killed Larquais purely because he, “had to counterbalance the absurdity of our situation,” (Daoud 122). This weak justification, of taking a French settler’s life over twenty years after Musa’s death, further separates the two narrators. Meursault, whilst harboring similar tensions in regards to his mother, makes no real attempt to justify his crime to himself, choosing instead to retreat into his own memories for the sake of entertainment. Their individual manners of coping highlight a significant difference in the two
Camus’ Meursault truly is apathetic towards the murder, feeling remorse solely for his individual loss of freedom rather than lamenting the loss of life attributed to his hand. Meursault, in the end, is truly isolated and alone. He commits the murder by himself and without any real motivation, despite his insinuation that the sun somehow forced his hand. He never inquires the name of his victim, referring to the ambiguous dead man only as, “the Arab.” Harun, however, is directly influenced by his mother and premediates the murder of Joseph Larquais. He claims that his mother chose Larquais as a “sacrificial victim,” (Daoud 111) and that he killed Larquais purely because he, “had to counterbalance the absurdity of our situation,” (Daoud 122). This weak justification, of taking a French settler’s life over twenty years after Musa’s death, further separates the two narrators. Meursault, whilst harboring similar tensions in regards to his mother, makes no real attempt to justify his crime to himself, choosing instead to retreat into his own memories for the sake of entertainment. Their individual manners of coping highlight a significant difference in the two