مرکز منطقه ای اطلاع رساني علوم و فناوري - The Disconnected Stranger of Oğuz Atay and Albert Camus

Abstract :

When a human being senses that the social order destroys him, he lives an uprising against this order in his inner world. He loses his own identity, starts to live his solitude in a crowded community. Under the effect of existential philosophy, in the novels of ‘The Disconnected’ of Oğuz Atay and ‘The Stranger’ of Albert Camus, Selim and Meursault feel themselves in a meaningless enclosure. Solitude and controversy take an important place in the lives of the characters. Being in a community where the people cry out their hatred weighs them down. In the pointlessness of continuing that kind of life, their silence and solitude choice is a particular attitude against the world. Atay and Camus reflect the problems that affect the people of time with the help of a narrative technique other than the classical one. The Disconnected starts with that Turgut learns about Selim’s suicide, The Stranger starts with that Meursault says that his mother died on that day. The environment that they live in is not suitable for them anymore. Selim commits suicide when the meaninglessness of the life becomes apparent; Meursault doesn’t go into the effort of defense himself because can’t be understood in the process of the lawsuit leading him to death. In the novel of Atay, Selim’s subconscious is full of cultural conflict of the East and West and this conflict ends up with a tragedy, suicide. Meursault, the character of Camus doesn’t even aware of the reason why he killed the Arab at the beach. In the process of the lawsuit he doesn’t defense himself, takes in a stride his death penalty. As if he was tried by the ones who condemn him not because he killed the Arab, but because of his indifference against his mother’s death. Atay and Camus reveal the feelings and opinions of the individuals who lose their grip, alienate and the solitude of the characters in the modern city life from the individual-centered view point.