Question: Why is Albert Camus’ book, The Outsider, also published as The Stranger?

Answer: The translation of the French word outsider, can also mean stranger. Some editions choose the word “stranger”. Monsieur Meursault was a stranger at the beach near Algiers. Being an outsider to the area, he was unused to the hot sun at the beach.

“I felt the same dazzling explosion of blazing sun ……. My jaw tensed tightly everytime a piercing ray of light shot up from the sand, a white sea shell or a piece of broken glass. (Camus, p. 52)

Camus loved swimming, in the sun. He wrote what was familiar to him and we read of his experiences via his characters. He knew what a stranger would feel when he was getting overcome with the sun and its heat. His character, Monsieur Meursault was actually the opposite of him.