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Many critics are convinced that Meursault, the anti-hero of Camus' The Stranger, is an affectless figure in a pre-moral policy of beyond good and evil, and a pursuer of the hedonistic moment. Some commentators perceive him as a Christ figure for our schizoid times. Critics such as Thomas Hanna1 and Philip Thody2 hold that there is no explanation for the murder, thereby raising Meursault's indifference to a cosmic level. A prevalent response among contemporary students of French literature is that Meursault is a hero and a martyr who died because of his absolute respect for the truth. Some readers disregard the fact that Meursault wrote the letter for the pimp Raymond, designed to deceive the Arab girl and expose her to humiliation; that he lied to the police to get Raymond discharged after he had beaten the girl; and that he murdered the Arab, firing five bullets into his body. In a preface to an English edition of L'Étranger, Camus, who wrote this novel in his mid-twenties, describes Meursault in a defensive manner:
… the hero of the book is condemned because he doesn't play the game. In this sense he is a stranger to the society in which he lives; he drifts in the margin, in the suburb of private, solitary, sensual life. This is why some readers are tempted to consider him as a waif. You will have a more precise idea of this character, or one at all events in closer conformity with the intentions of the author, if you ask yourself in what way Meursault doesn't play the game. The answer is simple: He refuses to lie. Lying is not only saying what is not true. It is also and especially saying more than is true, and, as far as the human heart is concerned, saying more than one feels. This is what we all do
Page 189every day to simplify life. Meursault, despite appearances, does not wish to simplify life. He says what is true. He refuses to disguise his feelings, and immediately society feels threatened. He is asked, for example, to say that he regrets his crime according to