Camus’ The Stranger drew on his own disorientation while traveling abroad

Evidence

52 ‘To the tender indifference’: ibid., 111. Inspiration for the novel also came from Camus’ experiences of travelling in central Europe in 1937, and feeling disoriented because he could not speak the language or understand how to behave: see Camus, Notebooks 1935–1942, 45. — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 1472

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the ‘tender indifference’ of the sun in Meursault’s killing scene — biographical root of the novel’s core mood. — connects to: Camus’s affectless protagonist mirrored both his own trauma and wartime France’s suppressed surface — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 482
• QUESTION: What in Camus’ Central European notebooks maps directly onto Meursault’s alienation? Worth checking Notebooks 1935–1942.