Kamel Daoud's The Meursault Investigation

Response to Question 1: The Perfect Stranger

Harun, who is effectively a proxy for Kamel Daoud himself, narrates the story of his brother’s murder in ways that pay ironic homage to Camus’s The Stranger. In fact, The Meursault Investigation would not and could not exist were it not for The Stranger, which for Daoud—and Harun—epitomizes the essence of the colonial mentality. Yet Harun and his creator also understand the paradoxical and complex relationship between Algeria and France. It is not possible to reasonably discard all elements of French culture and society; the post-colonial pride that emerges in Algeria is one that must contend with its contemporary status and identity as a former French colony. As such, the allusions to The Stranger are at once deeply admiring, almost reverential while at the same time filled with bitterness and pathos. Harun’s words lauding Camus are both literal and ironic, bearing witness to the tremendous social and psychological burden of constructing a postcolonial identity.

The allusions to The Stranger are deliberate, conscious, and meaningful, providing the framework for The Mersault Investigation. Harun is self-consciously admiring of Camus, noting from the opening passages of his narration how central Mersault’s crime has been to his family, to his own psychological development, and to his society as a whole. Mersault’s crime was at once “committed with absolute impunity” and “wasn’t a crime anyway,” given the differential status between Mersault and his victim (Daoud 6). Whereas Camus constructed a nameless, faceless victim, Harun is bent on vindication: both in terms of seeking the truth in his brother’s wanton murder and also in showcasing how his brother’s anonymity symbolizes the dehumanization of colonialism. Therefore, Harun’s declaration of respect for Camus’s literary prowess is ironic because it gives credence to the overarching structures of colonialism that enabled his brother’s murder in the first place. Harun does show, however, that it is possible to disparage the structure of colonialism while still being able to respect or admire the vestiges of French civilization.

Because Camus also presented a dichotomous view of colonialism in The Stranger, Harun is able to deftly balance the need on the one hand to expose the French author’s prejudices while also acknowledging that Camus was merely a product of his time. Harun gives credit to Camus’s recognition of existential absurdity, of the irrationality of religion and the search for “a God who doesn’t exist,” (Daoud 5). Camus presented a bleak and meaningless portrait of the world, and Harun seeks to rectify that worldview by seeking meaning, justice, and the truth. Musa’s murder is a springboard for reconciliation. Harun realizes the futility in pursuing a path in which French language, culture, and literature are completely discarded and opts for a middle path. Harun does seem to lack self-awareness at certain points in the novel, particularly in that he claims not to speak from “sorrow or anger,” when in fact clearly the man possesses both (Daoud 6). In spite of this, Harun’s continual reference to The Stranger is actually to be taken quite literally as an encouragement to his audience to avoid throwing out the baby with the bathwater, to recognize that in spite of the violence in colonialism that colonial powers often did leave in their wake some elements that could be positively incorporated into the reconstruction of a postcolonial identity.

If it were not for The Stranger, Harun would not have the opportunity to tell his brother’s story that of his mother, or that of his people. Allusions to The Stranger are therefore straightforward and earnest, even if they seem contradictory or paradoxical. For Harun, it is not only possible but also necessary to engage with The Stranger and all it represents for Algerian society because only through this challenging discourse is it possible to rectify the mistakes of the past and contend with the difficulties of constructing a new postcolonial identity. The facts of the case, that “a Frenchman kills an Arab who’s lying on a deserted beach,” with no motive other than “the sun or pure idleness,” showcase the violence of the colonial enterprise (Daoud 53). Harun is able to decry the arrogance of the colonial mentality, the ability to kill with impunity and plunder, to disparage and to presume cultural superiority without simultaneously slipping into cyclical violence. By being willing to engage Camus in a posthumous conversation, Harun reclaims his own power and strips Camus of the presumed authority to tell the story of Algerians. Harun wants to reclaim Algerian identity, by divesting Camus of the power to tell his brother’s story and to actually erase his entire existence by denying him a name. Moreover, Harun directly speaks to Camus, as when he states, “you find my summary of your book unsettling, eh?” (Daoud 53). The courage it takes for Harun to face Camus is remarkable not least because of the global popularity of The Stranger and what it meant for elevating French literature above that of Algerian. In reclaiming the story of Musa, Harun must ironically give credit to Camus for providing him with this invaluable opportunity to engage in critical discourse. Harun’s exercise is essentially one of astute, deeply personal literary criticism.

The praise that Harun reserves for Camus’s The Stranger is sincere in its literal reference to the French author’s talent and also to his power as a writer. On the other hand, Harun delivers a scathing criticism of The Stranger’s orientalizing, its othering of the Arab, and its colonial arrogance. Criticizing The Stranger does not preclude Harun from admiring the book at face value. Just as any other contemporary reader of Camus can simultaneously admire and critique the work and its implications for the colonialist worldview, Harun encourages a deep and meaningful discourse, calling upon Algerians especially to conscientiously construct a radical new identity that neither panders to the French nor violently rejects the tenets of secular society.

Works Cited

Daoud, Kamel. The Mersault Investigation. Other Press, 2015.