The lawyer already knows that Meursault's case is not the simple case that Meursault is convinced it is. For example, he does not like the possibility that he will have to explain Meursault's attitude toward his mother's death.
To the earlier police officers who questioned Meursault, he was faceless; he was simply a Frenchman who had shot an Arab. This new magistrate, however, eyes Meursault with distinct curiosity.
In a preface to the British edition of this novel, Camus states that Meursault is condemned and guillotined because "he doesn't play the game." Meursault dies because he refuses to lie in a court of law; he dies, says Camus in the same preface, "for the sake of truth."
When Marie asks Meursault to get the police, Meursault tells her he doesn't like policeman. Another neighbor gets one,... (full context) Soon after, Meursault 's boss offers Meursault an opportunity to transfer to a position in Paris.
That would be too much trouble and Meursault is not sure that it is necessary for him even to have a lawyer. He is, in fact, pleased to learn that the court will appoint a lawyer for the defense; all the bothersome details will be taken care of.
Meursault feels that his lawyer defended him during the trial as best he could. he wants to spend his last minutes on earth alone and in quiet reflection. he doesn't believe in God, so this life is it.
a friendCéleste calls Meursault "'a friend'" and has prepared a long-winded defense, blaming the crime on "'bad luck'" but the judge cuts him off, explaining the court is "to judge just this sort of bad luck." Hearing Céleste, Meursault feels for "the first time in my life I…
if Meursault felt any sadness the day of the funeral. The attorney asks him because it's very important and it would be a strong argument for the prosecution if he can't come up with some answers.
Emmanuel: Emmanuel is a friend of Meursault's from work. They spend some time together, seeing movies and talking. He only enters the novel in the beginning and at the end during the trial.
What defense did Meursault's lawyer present? Meursault's lawyer offers an interpretation of the events that led up to the crime, speaking in the first person, as though he were Meursault.
Meursault's attorney tells him that it wouldn't last more than two or three days because a more interesting parricide (the murder of a family member) case is coming up after his trial.
Determined to portray Meursault as a cold-blooded, premeditating murderer and soulless monster unfit for society, the prosecutor builds his case around Meursault's insensitive attitude towards his mother, evidence that shouldn't properly be relevant.
Both lawyers plead guilty, but his attorney does it with an explanation, whereas the prosecutor does so without one. Meursault feels that all through trial, more is said about him than about the crime he committed. Every now and then he feels the urge to intervene, but is shut down by his attorney.
The lawyer is a "small, plump, youngish man with sleek, black hair." What does Meursault's lawyer look like? He is concerned about the charge of "callousness." What charge against Meursault, besides murder, is the lawyer concerned about?
Thomas Perez One of the elderly residents at the old persons' home where Meursault's mother lived. Before Madame Meursault's death, she and Perez had become so inseparable that the other residents joked that he was her fiancé.
Meursault is not innocent. He is guilty of murder because he killed the Arab, but this is not the only crime he is guilty of....References.Reading time4 minTypeEssayPages3Words943SubjectsLiterature World Philosophy Literature1 more row•Feb 21, 2021
The defense calls witnesses: Céleste, Marie, Masson, Salamano, and Raymond. Céleste calls Meursault "'a friend'" and has prepared a long-winded defense, blaming the crime on "'bad luck'" but... (full context)
The two look... (full context) Another neighbor, Raymond Sint ès, appears and invites Meursault to dinner. Though Raymond is unpopular with others and has a reputation for living "off... (full context)
Back at home, Salamano tells Meursault that his dog is truly lost or dead because it isn't at the pound. Meursault ... (full context)
Book Two opens on Meursault in prison, calmly and agreeably observing the judicial procedures unfolding around him. Thinking his case... (full context)
(full context) At the spring, Meursault is "a little surprised" to see that the Arab man who is Raymond's enemy has... (full context) Book 2, Chapter 1.
Now back in prison, Meursault has three times refused a visit from the chaplain. Meursault is focused only on "escaping... (full context)
Raymond calls Meursault at the office and tells him his friend has invited Meursault to his beach house... (full context) Soon after, Meursault 's boss offers Meursault an opportunity to transfer to a position in Paris. When Meursault is... (full context) That evening, Marie asks Meursault if he wants to marry her.
Basically, one should remember that Meursault is a man who will not lie about himself, a man who cannot accept the formulas by which his society convinces itself it is happy. He will not look forward to a life after death, he will not use religion as a vehicle to avoid facing the fact that he must die, and he refuses to mask his calm acceptance of his mother's death. He defies all judges, except himself: he will not play the hypocritical penitent for his interrogators and prosecutors.
Perhaps one of the most valuable ways to understand Meursault is to quote what Camus has said about him: "Meursault for me," writes Camus, is "a poor and naked man, in love with the sun which leaves no shadows. He is far from being totally deprived of sensitivity for he is animated by a passion, profound because it is tacit, the passion for the absolute and for truth. It is still a negative truth, the truth of being and feeling, but a truth without which no conquest of the self or of the world is possible." That is why, until the very end, "Meursault is the man who answers but never asks a question, and all his answers so alarm a society which cannot bear to look at the truth."
LC Class. PQ3989.3.D365. The Meursault Investigation ( French: Meursault, contre-enquête) is the first novel by Algerian writer and journalist Kamel Daoud. It is a retelling of Albert Camus 's 1942 novel, The Stranger. First published in Algeria by Barzakh Editions in October 2013, it was reissued in France by Actes Sud (May 2014).
Giving a name to Meursault's nameless victim, for Daoud, is about more than just revisiting a minor character. In an interview with the Los Angeles Review of Books, Daoud said: "Ever since the Middle Ages, the white man has the habit of naming Africa and Asia's mountains and insects, all the while denying the names of the human beings they encounter. By removing their names, they render banal murder and crimes. By claiming your own name, you are also making a claim of your humanity and thus the right to justice."
In other outlets, Daoud has confirmed the integral role that The Stranger played in the genesis of The Meursault Investigation, describing his novel as "a dialogue with Camus.". Another of Camus's novels, The Fall, is referenced in Daoud's book through the narrative style.
Hamadache has labeled Daoud an apostate, "an enemy of religion," a "deviant creature" and a "collaborator.". He called on the Algerian state to execute Daoud, on the grounds that he is leading a "war against God and the prophet.". Daoud has filed a complaint for incitement with the ministry of religious affairs.
Meursault, the protagonist of Albert Camus ' novel The Stranger, murders a character known only as "the Arab", saying, in his trial, that the murder was a meaningless gesture caused by sunstroke or God's absence. Camus left Meursault's victim nameless, but Kamel Daoud gives him a name: Musa.
Religious controversy in Algeria. On December 16, 2014, a death threat against Daoud was issued from a Facebook page that is now locked. Abdelfattah Hamadache, the radical Islamist preacher who issued the fatwa, leads a Salafist group called the Islamic Awakening Front.
Meursault, contre-enquête won the 2015 Goncourt first novel prize, the 2014 Prix François-Mauriac and the 2014 Prix des cinq continents de la Francophonie. It was shortlisted for the 2014 Goncourt prize .
Meursault ( French pronunciation: [mœʁso]) is a commune in the Côte-d'Or department and region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France .
The author states that the name Meursault is derived from Latin Murissaltus, and suggests that it means "the forest of the rat" without giving further explanations. Many travel guides and wine buying guides have reused this etymology, and some even suggest that it could mean “the falls of the rat”, “the rat” supposedly being the name of a forest that once covered Meursault. This can be explained due to the word muris being a homonym, as it can either be the genitive singular of ᴍūs “rat” or the dative/ablative plural of ᴍūʀᴜs “wall”. The same could be said for the Latin word saltus, as it can either mean “leap/jump/fall” or “forest”.
The existence of a forest in Meursault could be corroborated by the name of the river that passes the town: Le Ruisseau des Clous, which appeared as Agine in medieval texts (since 1155). Lebel gives the reconstruction of this name as * Hagina, a derivation from haga “enclosed forest” followed by a Germanic suffix - ina (possibly from Proto-Germanic -* īnaz ). The Franks called enclosed forests haga or * hagja, which remains in the Burgundian language as age, and is also related to French haie and English hedge .
Lebel suggests that Muressalt (1148) or Murissalt (1168) may have phonetically evolved from * mureis salt, which would have been eventually derived from * muriscu saltu, the latter being composed of the Latin word muru “wall” with a Germanic suffix - isc (possibly from Proto-West Germanic - isk ), and saltu, a Latin word meaning “forest” (it was used as frequently as its synonym silva, but went on to be replaced by the Germanic word bosk which eventually became French bois ).
Etymology. The oldest attested form of the toponym Meursault dates from 1094, as Murassalt and Mussalt, in a charter by the Cluny Abbey. However, these forms may have been a scribal error, given that in the attested forms of the toponym, the letter a does not appear in the second syllable of the toponym.
It lies along the foot of the Côte-d'Or escarpment, around Beaune and with the broad Saône valley plain to its east. Meursault produces mainly white wines from Chardonnay grapes, primarily in a style with a clear oak influence, which have led to descriptions such as "buttery" to be applied to powerful examples of Meursault wines. Within the Meursault AOC there are some Premier Cru vineyards, but no Grand Cru. This has however not stopped the wines of Meursault from competing with the white burgundies from the villages Chassagne-Montrachet and Puligny-Montrachet, where several Grands Crus are situated. The town of Meursault is home to the international wine event La Paulée de Meursault .
This can be explained due to the word muris being a homonym, as it can either be the genitive singular of ᴍūs “rat” or the dative/ablative plural of ᴍūʀᴜs “wall”. The same could be said for the Latin word saltus, as it can either mean “leap/jump/fall” or “forest”.
He begs Meursault not to make such damning statements during the trial. And Meursault promises — for one reason: "to satisfy him." He has done this repeatedly: he helped Raymond because he wanted to satisfy him; he promised to marry Marie to satisfy her. But now he warns the lawyer that his promises are not iron-bound. He explains that his "physical condition at any given moment" usually influences what he says and does and how he feels. This is rare insight for Meursault to realize about himself, and it is rarer still for him to admit such a statement, when his life depends on convincing a jury that he should not be executed for murdering another man.
Meursault considers this a strongly positive statement. Merely because he did not weep carries no importance because he was hot and tired that day; were it up to him, his mother would be alive today. But she died. It was not his fault and it is astonishing that the lawyer can place so much importance on the fact that, because of the heat and Meursault's fatigue, he did not weep at the funeral.
The magistrate's next question causes Meursault to pause before he answers. He emphasizes that he did not shoot five consecutive shots. He tells the absolute truth. He fired one shot, killing the Arab, and then, after a short interval, he fired four more shots. And he cannot explain the interval between the first shot and the others, but he relives that instant, probably due to the intense heat and light in the magistrate's room. He sees the glow of the beach hovering again before his eyes. He cannot answer the magistrate's question, even after the magistrate waits, fidgets, half-rises, sits down again, and asks for an answer. He insists on an answer, but Meursault remains silent.
Meursault dies because he refuses to lie in a court of law; he dies, says Camus in the same preface, "for the sake of truth.".
At this point, Meursault says only that he was "quite fond" of his mother. This is the most positive statement he can make, which does not carry much legalistic clout, especially when one is considering a charge of callous, cold-blooded murder.
But he does not because, as he says, he is too lazy to do so.
The lawyer, who is what most readers would probably consider "normal," feels sure that Meursault will want to say that on the day of the funeral that he managed to keep his feelings "under control." This is impossible for Meursault to do. It would be a lie. We are not surprised when Meursault says that the lawyer looked at him queerly and seemed slightly revolted, saying that the head of the Home and some of the staff would be witnesses, proving that Meursault was devoid of feelings for his mother. The prosecution has powerful weapons to use against Meursault.
The change from Mersault to Meursault leads to a name that actually already existed: Meursault is the name of a commune in France (now familiar to anyone who has watched the 1966 film La Grande Vadrouille ).
(See Albert Camus , La Mort heureuse, Le bain de mer, in French.)
So on a very literal level, Mersault can be read as mer (sea) and sault / saut (jump; the 'l' in 'sault' is silent); when ignoring that French creates compounds in a very different way than English, the name can be read as "jump into the sea" (French equivalent: "saut à la mer").