Isabelle Wentworth

Journal of Camus Studies

2015

Autism & Absurdism: Philosophical Ramifications of Cognitive Criticism in Camus' L'Etranger

1

Asperger's Syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism was first diagnosed in 1944, two years after Camus published his classic novel of European existentialism, L'Etranger. Camus had never heard of the syndrome, nor, as far as we know, did he come into prolonged contact with any undiagnosed Asperger's individuals.1 Yet his enigmatic, undemonstrative protagonist Meursault presents a remarkable portrait of the Asperger's character, a literary figure which has recently emerged in a proliferation of fictional works from detective novels to children's literature. Asperger's is a form of high-functioning autism, a life-long neurological syndrome which can drastically affect an individual's perception of their society, their environment and themselves, creating what neurologist Simon Baron-Cohen calls a distinctive “cognitive style” that should not necessarily be regarded as a disability.2 Meursault's flat prosody and detail-oriented narration provides a stylistic representation of the autistic voice, and as I will discuss, Meursault's social and emotional interactions and responses, stereotyped behaviour and sensory hypersensitivity all resonate strongly with the Asperger's literary character. It must be noted that despite relying on a medical framework, my use of Asperger's syndrome essentially revolves around a literary figure, and as such a clear distinction needs to be made between Asperger's as a lived orientation and Asperger's as a literary representation. As has been noted by many critics of literary autism, the Asperger's protagonist has a unique ability to probe social, cultural and philosophical belief systems within their "neurotypical" environment.

My argument is that it was precisely the lead character Meursault's unique cognitive style which proved so congenial for The Outsider as an exploration of modern existence within the context of cosmic indifference. Meursault has received an enormous amount of critical attention: he has been both lauded and indicted, labelled a “social

1 O'Brien, C (1970), Camus, HarperCollins, New York.2 Baron-Cohen, S (2000), "Is Asperger's syndrome/high-functioning autism necessarily a disability?" Development and Psychopathology, (1)(3), p.489.

2

martyr,”3 a “misogynist,”4 a “juvenile delinquent”5 and a prejudiced pied-noir in colonial Algeria who represents "Western dominance in the non-European world.”6 Meursault has, in fact, been subjected to numerous diagnostic readings, including a handful of suggestions of autism.7 Typically, the conflation of Meursault and Asperger's has been controversial, as it appears to imply a reductive analytic narrative. However previous diagnostic readings have tended towards the explanatory rather than the exploratory, articulating symptomatic reasons for Meursault's behaviour while not necessarily expanding on these explanations to harness the philosophical possibilities of cognitive criticism. For example Ben O'Donohoe merely uses the label of autism pejoratively, in the same breath as "egotism, paranoia and sadism."8 In this context, rather than offering interpretive possibilities, autism becomes a reason to discredit Meursault's moral and philosophical perspective.

I hope to demonstrate that the exploration of Meursault as an autistic individual does not limit the profound philosophical and literary import of his character. Rather my thesis offers a cognitive framework with which to lucidly articulate the philosophical, social and moral questions raised by the novel. Without displacing the novel's ethical and ontological themes, I aim to integrate its exploration of a neurological condition with its philosophical animus, namely Camus' philosophy of the absurd and its

3 Bree, G, “Nature, Humanism, Tragedy”, in The Stranger, (2001), (ed) Harold Bloom, Chelsea House Publishers, London, p.37.4 O'Donohoe, B (2007), “L'Etranger and the Messianic Myth”, Phaenex: Journal of the Society for Existential and Phenomenological Theory & Culture, (2)(1), abstract.5 Girard, R (1964), “The Stranger Retried”, Modern Language Association, (79)(5), p.531.6 Said, E (1994), Culture and Imperialism, Random House, New York, p.209.7 See: Badcock, C, “The Big Plus of the Outsider Society”, Psychology Today, 10/6/2010; Osteen, M (2007), Autism & Representation, Taylor & Francis, London, p.114;Grand, S (2013), The Reproduction of Evil: A Clinical and Cultural Perspective, Routledge, p.120;8 O'Donohoe, B (2007), "L'Etranger and the Messianic Myth, or Meursault Unmasked", Phaenex: Journal of Existential Theory and Culture, abstract.

3

humanist implications - which most critics consider to be the unifying principle of the novel.9

While Camus' doctrine of the absurd is difficult to conclusively define, his 1942 philosophical exposition of The Myth of Sisyphus10 roughly describes it as a personal philosophy of existence which recognises the lack of any profound or transcendent meaning in life, yet utterly rejects despair, instead championing a lucidly self-aware existence as the only true value. The absurd, in itself, is not an inherent part of our universe, but rather “is born of the confrontation between human need and the unreasonable silence of the world.”11 Having recognised this, an individual should rebel against the futility of their finite earthly condition yet never despair, rejecting both nihilism and spiritual illusions of eternal life in preference for the integrity of a sensual and lucidly self-aware reality. While the two contemporaneous texts, one literary, one philosophical, are not entirely reducible to one another, both The Outsider and The Myth of Sisyphus offer a powerful exploration of Camus’s existential philosophy and his profound affirmation of life in the face of an indifferent universe. From this premise, it is possible to analyse Meursault as a literary figure suitable for the exploration of the phenomenological reality and ethical implications of absurdism: his character provides a fulcrum for examinations of the role of morality, religion, affective and empathetic emotion, sensory awareness and social role-playing within the conduct of a human life.

As is implied by my identification of the similarities between Meursault and the Asperger character, I believe that these are precisely the spheres of humanistic and ontological investigation addressed by literary

9 See: Camus, A (1955), “Afterword”, in The Outsider, (2000), by Camus, Penguin Group, London; Sartre, JP, “Explication of L'Etranger”, in The Stranger, (2001), (ed) Harold Bloom, Infobase Publishing, London, pp.1-19; or Bree, G, “Nature, Humanism, Tragedy”, in The Stranger, (2001), (ed) Harold Bloom, Chelsea House Publishers, London, pp.21-37.10 Camus, A (2005), The Myth of Sisyphus, trans. Justin O'Brien, Penguin Books, London.11 Camus, The Myth, p.26.

4

representations of Asperger's. By partially constructing and partially discovering this literary figure, Camus has demonstrated that not only the neurologist but the writer can prove a true cartographer of the mind. While it is difficult to navigate the suggestion of Meursault as an autistic character without any suggestion of authorial intent, by distinguishing literary autism from its diagnostic history it is possible to analyse the Asperger's figure in terms of its narrative possibilities as an observational persona and dramatic agent, and the aesthetic possibilities that these can afford an author. If we take a more formalist perspective then a genealogical reconstruction of the character type may be possible, as we can see elements that are cognate with earlier literary figures. Take for example the "Holy Fools" of medieval European literature. These disarming characters, through naivety or ignorance, do not conform to social conventions and are subsequently positioned to unwittingly highlight the absurdities, hypocrisies and trivialities of their society. This ultimately grants them a wisdom which transcends their proximate social and cultural environment. Similarly, in Meursault Camus has created a precursor to the modern Asperger character, who engages in explorations of modern existence from a socially and culturally liberated vantage point. In contemporary times the aesthetic purchase of this character type, as well as an increasing understanding of and fascination with different neurological states, has resulted in the explosion of "autism literature". An example of this character is Christopher from Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (2003), a young Asperger's boy who channels his hero Sherlock Holmes in his efforts to unravel the mysteries that he encounters, from inexplicable social conventions to murdered dogs and missing mothers. Haddon was a pioneer in the burgeoning movement of "autism literature" which, as neurologist and author Oliver Sacks argues, acknowledges autism as an exciting cultural device, a potential for dissenting modes of perception and ethical deliberation in contemporary society.

5

The social limitations inherent to the syndrome renders the Asperger character outsiders to their society, suggesting the fundamental congeniality of this character type with Camus' socially naive "outsider" Meursault, who struggles to understand or internalize cultural norms. In their relative isolation, both the absurd man and the Asperger character are disconnected from cultural, historical and ethical preconceptions or beliefs. Camus' proud claim that his (anti) hero Meursault “doesn't play the game”12 resonates strongly with Sacks' insight that Asperger individuals operate outside of "the games people play."13 Both these characters represent outsiders who are able to render unfamiliar the conventions of their society, thus generating a lucid, unfettered perspective which calls the axioms of their culture into question.

With my reading of Meursault through an Asperger's prism, I aim to establish literary autism as an embodied exploration of absurdist concerns, including critique of our social, emotional, moral, spiritual and sensory lives, as well as precipitating meditation of existential-philosophical themes. I hope to demonstrate that an Asperger's interpretation of Meursault offers a uniquely transformative perspective, addressing atypical neurological states as philosophically significant explorations of variations in human cognition. A cognitively sensitive approach to reading Meursault can generate further reflection on the role of neurology in literature, recognising the social, ethical and philosophical potential of literary autism, as well as developing a renewed interest in Camus’s Meursault as embodying, experiencing, and narratologically unfolding the philosophy of the absurd.

Meursault as a Gauge of Social Hypocrisy:

As already discussed, one of the "essential features" of the Asperger's character is a difficulty in social situations – verbal and non-verbal cues that neurotypicals are able to intuitively interpret can be a mystery to

12 Camus, A (1955), “Afterword”, in The Outsider, p.118.13 Sacks, An Anthropologist, p.248.

6

these individuals.14 The Diagnostic Manual describes this condition as a "qualitative impairment in social interaction."15 It is a difficult concept for others to grasp because these social behaviours are so intrinsic to the way we relate to the world around us that they seem outstandingly obvious. Yet to an individual with Asperger's, unless these signals are straight-forward and predictable or aligning with previously learned social formations, they are often opaque or even undecipherable. In mild cases these individuals are able to interact and exist autonomously within the community, but as described by an autistic patient of Sacks, "you act normal, you learn the rules and obey them... but still don't understand what's behind the social conventions."16 Meursault certainly demonstrates this autistic unfamiliarity with social interaction. Throughout the whole novel, as Mamun explains, Meursault behaves almost "as if he had no idea of how the rest of society operated."17 Phrases indicating Meursault's uncertainty, such as "for some reason" (12), "seemed" (43), and "for no apparent reason" (40), punctuate his conversations, revealing his difficulty in predicting or explaining the responses he receives. In a conversation with his boss about his mother's death, Meursault reveals his subtle social uncertainties with the bizarre assertion, "I said, 'It's not my fault'. He didn't reply. Then I thought I shouldn't have said that" (9). Despite being adequately practised in the art of conversation, small indications such as these reveal that his social life is characterised by subtle misunderstanding or lack of true communication.

However, there is a paradoxical advantage to this difficulty: because both Meursault and the Asperger's character in general are confounded to various degrees by social interaction, they are situated at a unique vantage point from which to analyse, observe and ultimately de-construct

14 Attwood, The Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome, p.26.15 American Psychiatric Association, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, p.80.16 Sacks, An Anthropologist, p.263.17 Mamun, H (2012), 'Society versus Individual in Albert Camus' The Outsider', Journal of Social Sciences, (18)(4), p.59.

7

the pretences and machinations of society. In his book Disability and Representation, Quayson reflects that "autism can be used as a pointed critique of social hypocrisy and indeed of social institutions as such."18 Contemporary fictional representations of autism have capitalised on this crucial literary function; for example after following Christopher's character in The Curious Incident, as readers "we begin to question the common sense and erratic emotionalism of the normal citizens who surround him, as well as our own intuitions and habits of perception."19 This problematising function has obvious similarities with Bree's description of Meursault's character as revealing "how arbitrary and superficial are the codes with which we cover up the stark incomprehensibility of life."20 The role of social reflector is crucial to the congeniality of the Asperger's character to explorations of absurdism: according to Camus, an absurd hero must "enjoy a freedom with regard to common rules,"21 recognising the superficiality of social, cultural or religious systems of assigned meaning. The beauty of the Asperger's character is that it has allowed Camus to condemn "the game" of society by representing an individual who does not know the rules. As Gilbert describes, it is the social naivety of the autistic character, placed at a "distance from the obvious"22 which enables this re-evaluation of our internalised systems of social meaning.

It is a re-evaluation that has potentially far-reaching ramifications. The Asperger's character can offer a disturbing perspective on our social forms - from small gestures of politeness to profoundly established social customs - because they are robbed of the inherent meaning which a neurotypical person naturally assigns to them, and therefore appear false and contrived. For example, because of a genuine lack of understanding of spiritual or esoteric social practices, Meursault renders ludicrous the 18 Quayson, A 2012, Aesthetic Nervousness: Disability and the Crisis of Representation, Columbia University Press, Columbia, p.178.19 McInerny, J, “The Remains of the Dog.” New York Times. 15/6/2003.20 Bree, “Nature, Humanism, Tragedy”, in The Stranger, Bloom, p.21.21 Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus, p.42.22 Gilbert, R (2005), “Watching the Detectives”, Children's Literature in Education, (36)(3), p.241

8

social expectations and customs of a funeral. Through his practical perspective, he feels no qualms about drinking coffee, dozing or talking during the vigil he keeps for his mother. Meursault's unsentimental reaction to death's cultural ceremonies mirrors the matter-of-fact practicality displayed by, for example, Christopher's response to the news of his mother's death: "Mother was cremated. This means she was put into a coffin and burnt and ground up and turned into ash and smoke".23 Both Christopher and Meursault lack social concepts of taboo, therefore highlighting these customs and expectations for what they are to a non-initiated observer: arbitrary codes constructed and perpetuated through cultural complicity.

This embodies absurdism's challenge to social conventions, values and customs. In The Myth, Camus describes how for the absurd man, "at certain moments of lucidity, the mechanical aspect of their gestures, their meaningless pantomime make silly everything that surrounds them. A man is talking on the telephone behind a glass partition; you cannot hear him but you see his incomprehensible dumb-show."24 For Meursault, this social disconnection could be literally translated as Asperger's syndrome, as it obfuscates the meaning behind social interaction. In medical terms, the "glass partition" effect of Asperger's syndrome is a lack of theory-of-mind or the inability to "conceptualize the thoughts, feelings, knowledge and beliefs of others."25 Without realising it, Meursault exhibits this "mind-blindness",26 failing to predict the reactions of those around him. He says "I hadn't realized before that people thought badly of me for doing that [sending his mother to a home]" (48). On the one hand, this personifies absurdist concerns about the possibilities and limitations of being understood, or able to understand others. Yet it also illustrates the unique position of the Asperger's character to conduct an exploration of society's arbitrary rituals and

23 Haddon, The Curious Incident, p.43.24 Camus, The Myth, p.13.25 Baron-Cohen, S (1997), Mindblindness: An Essay on Autism and Theory of Mind, MIT Press, Cambridge.26 Baron-Cohen, Mindblindness.

9

hypocritical institutions - notably, as illustrated by both L'Etranger and many other novels which employ the Asperger's figure.27 In Bree's words, Meursault "shakes us out of our complacency",28 embodying a culturally liberated way of viewing the world and conducting an epistemological review of our social beliefs.

Exploration of Emotion and Empathy

The Outsider's examination of our social lives is only one cultural framework called into question by the novel: it also conducts a lucid exploration of our emotional experiences and expressions. Much of the impact of the novel and the fascination with Meursault's character revolves around his seemingly incredible lack of emotion: in his influential analysis of The Outsider, Girard reflects "I always pictured Meursault as a stranger to the sentiments of other men. Love and hatred, ambition and envy, greed and jealousy are equally foreign to him."29 This is one of the most striking areas of resemblance between Meursault and the Asperger's character, who is characterised by a limited understanding, experience or expression of complex human emotion.30 In fact I would argue that our cultural preoccupation with Asperger's and autism largely centres on this emotional disparity: the current trend of literary Asperger's certainly capitalises on it. In The Curious Incident, as McInerny notes, Christopher's range of emotional response is extremely limited.31 In Stieg Larsson's trilogy, Lisbeth is described by another character as displaying an "astonishing lack of emotional involvement."32

27 Picoult, J (2010), House Rules, Simon & Schuster, New York; Miller, A & Stentz, Z (2013), Colin Fischer, Penguin Books, London.28 Bree, “Nature, Humanism, Tragedy”, in The Stranger, (ed) Harold Bloom, p.21.29 Girard, “The Stranger Retried”, p.519.30 Stoddart, K et al, (2012), "Emotional Understanding" in Asperger's Syndrome in Adulthood: A Comprehensive Guide for Clinicians, Norton & Company, New York, p.97.31 McInerny, J, “The Remains of the Dog.” New York Times. 15/6/2003.32 Larsson, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, p.67.

10

This trait, described as his "cold-bloodedness",33 was in fact a major factor influencing the “popular diagnosis” of Sherlock Holmes' Asperger's. Out of context, all of these quotes could have been describing Meursault – he appears emotionally indifferent to the death of his mother; to the sordid drama of Raymond and his mistress; to the plight of Salamano or his dog; to the romantic affection of Marie - to almost every situation in which a neurotypical person would have experienced some form of emotional reaction. As is particularly pronounced in the first section of the novel, Meursault demonstrates all tenets of the emotional characteristics of the autism spectrum: lack of empathy, failure to establish meaningful relationships and a pervasive egocentricity.34 These autistic characteristics align with, and therefore pose a potential neurological correlative for, the emotional responses dictated by Camus' philosophy. Roughly, absurdism declares that a truly lucid, self-aware experience of life is an undertaking that, like Sisyphus, one must achieve individually, a "solitary effort".35 Camus relegates transient emotions to self-serving states, useful only insofar as they bring us lucid awareness of our existence: "no depth, no emotion, no passion could render equal in the eyes of the absurd man... a conscious life."36 According to The Myth, this individualism deprives relationships of the inherent or profound value we give them: “we call love what binds us to certain creatures only by reference to a collective way of seeing for which books and legends are responsible”.37 Subsequently, beyond creating personal happiness, relationships and the web of social emotions are identified as peripheral to the authentic experience, the "pure flame of life".38 Accordingly The Outsider's absurdist examination of empathy and emotional reciprocity brings into question several assumptions about how we relate to other people. This is why, from a literary perspective, the Asperger's character

33 Doyle, A. C (2012), "Study in Scarlett" in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Top Five Books LLC, London, p.78.34 Frith, Autism and Asperger's Syndrome, p.4.35 Camus, The Myth, p.53.36 Camus, The Myth, p.61.37 Camus, The Myth, p.71.38 Camus, The Myth, p.58.

11

proved so conducive to the role of embodying Camus' philosophies, as the natural lack of social-emotional interconnectedness in autism offers a real-life representation of a post-conventional individual living outside the shame inducing and inhibiting influence of typical human emotion.

Part of this experience of emotion is a lack of empathy, which is a crucial source of the fascination surrounding both Meursault and the Asperger's character in general, yet also perhaps the most difficult to reconcile with our ideas of humanitarian morality. Frith acknowledges that many perceive this aspect of Asperger's as "chilling cold-bloodedness".39 Many critics have been repulsed by this trait in Meursault – Scherr calls him an "unfeeling psychopath".40 During his trial, the characters of the novel are horrified by Meursault, certain that his lack of empathy makes him inhuman: "a monster".41 However this limited autistic empathy is not the result of any inherent unkindness or cruelty, but of a difficulty with the subconscious neurological processes that create a "theory of mind". Although he can follow obvious emotions and use logic to work out motivations, Meursault has frequent difficulty in perceiving the subtle emotions, intentions or signals of others. Entirely without malice, he tells Marie "that I probably didn’t love her" (44). Meursault seems almost entirely unaware that this could be hurtful. He recognises this weakness in his perception during the funeral, explaining "I even had the impression that this dead body, lying there amongst them, didn't mean anything to them. But looking back I think it was the wrong impression" (16). These trivial examples can be transposed to Meursault's larger empathetic "transgressions": when he failed to consider the significance of taking the 'Arab's' life away from him, he was not being deliberately cruel or callous. Meursault was merely ill-equipped to understand the pain that he was causing.

39 Frith, Autism and Asperger's Syndrome, p.5.40 Scherr, A 2001, 'Camus's The Stranger', The Explicator, (59)(3), p.152.41 Camus, A (2000), The Outsider, p.99.

12

Although naturally within Asperger's there is a considerable spectrum of empathetic ability, the syndrome holds the possibility for what Simon Baron-Cohen calls "zero degrees of empathy",42 which I feel fairly closely describes Meursault. After the murder, despite being prompted and even implored, Meursault does not regret killing another human being. He feels only an "annoyance" (69) at his subsequent imprisonment. Regret is incompatible with the absurd's loyalty to the present moment, but Meursault's indifference goes deeper than merely acknowledging the futility of regret. He never considers his victim as another human. As explained by Martin, this is not quite solipsism but is closely related – Meursault never truly acknowledges that the people around him are conscious beings.43 This is evident in other philosophical works of absurdism, such as Sartre's disturbing Nausea, in which there is a "chiasmus of categorical confusion, [mixing up] two different kinds of entity and... seeing other people as things, without conscious intentions, devoid of complexity".44 This is almost the definition of zero degrees of empathy, which according to Baron-Cohen occurs when you view other people as objects. As already explained, for Meursault, other people exist only in terms of their impact on him. They become two-dimensional: literally mere objects. For example, through his gaze Marie is metonymically subjugated to her parts – her "suntanned face", "firm breasts" and "brown body" (37). Her personality is never described. Apart from empirical observations, Meursault gives hardly any insight into the characters around him. His friendship with Raymond is based on similarly insubstantial foundations: when Ray invites him to dinner, he says “I realized this would save me having to cook for myself and I accepted" (32). Meursault essentially engages in social relationships for their utilitarian function more than the company they provide: his interest is transient and superficial, without true emotional connection.

42 Baron-Cohen, S (2011), The Science of Evil: On Empathy and the Origins of Cruelty, Basic Books, USA, p.95.43 Martin, A (2008), "Autism, Empathy and Existentialism", Raritan, (27)(3), p.90.44 Martin, "Autism, Empathy and Existentialism", p.95.

13

The objectification of others occurs partly as a result of Meursault's egocentricity, or in Bronner's words, his "self-absorption" – Meursault's concern for himself necessarily displaces his concern for others. He lives for his own simple, sensory pleasures: in Camus' terms, a “desire to use up everything that is given”.45 Philosophically Camus champions the self in the individual rebellion against the absurdity of the world. The "absurd man" must be entirely honest to his own desires: “he has the moral code of his likes and dislikes”.46 He does not compromise his interests, and of course “nothing interests him more than himself".47 Like this absurd man, the Asperger's character "tends to remain egocentric and isolated".48 Despite much critical disapproval of Meursault's egocentricity (for example, O'Donohoe describes it as "cold selfishness"49), The Myth and The Outsider ask us to relinquish our moral disapproval. As Camus explains in relation to the possibility of the absurd, "value judgements must be discarded."50 I believe that the interpretive frame of Asperger's, in positioning Meursault as a possible neurological embodiment of these absurdist concerns, brings us closer to a lucid and liberated understanding of the emotional, empathetic and egocentric responses that Camus explores. From this perspective, The Outsider ultimately challenges our preconceptions about what an individual should feel, think or express.

Moral Ramifications of an Asperger's Meursault:

The judgement Meursault receives for his diminished sense of empathy or emotion is paralleled by the various judgements of his morality. Camus, in claiming Meursault as a martyr, championed his morality on the basis of his self-honesty and refusal to compromise himself for society's standards.51 Others, however, have disparaged Meursault as 45 Camus, The Myth, p.58.46 Camus, The Myth, p.70.47 Camus, The Myth, p.75.48 Frith, Autism and Asperger's Syndrome, p.37.49 O'Donohoe, “L'Etranger and the Messianic Myth”, p.8.50 Camus, The Myth, p.59.51 Camus, Afterword, The Outsider, pp.118-119.

14

immoral: for example Bowker talks of “his inhumanity.”52 The interpretation of an Asperger's Meursault further complicates this question, because the common assumption is that autism, as a disability, would diminish Meursault's moral agency and therefore shield him from ethical judgement. However I will rely on a more complex interpretation of the autistic morality: as a code that is constructed through the integration of experience and logic, without social, cultural or emotional influences. As explained by Baron-Cohen, “even though most people develop their moral code via empathy, these individuals have developed their moral code through systemizing.”53 Individuals with Asperger's syndrome will devise a "moral system they have constructed through brute logic alone."54 As described by Jaarsma, there are possible links between an autistic perspective on ethics and a Kantian emphasis on rational decision according to universal maxims, as opposed to empathetic morality predicated on relational affects. Individuals with autism are "generally speaking, strong systemizers and weak empathizers."55 Here the Asperger's construction of morality aligns with Camus' absurdist assertion that morality should be deduced from logical reasoning, rather than social or emotional influences: "I wish to purge [morality] of its emotional content and know its logic and its integrity".56 In a way, an autistic formation of ethics is a more rigorous and consistent form of morality because it is not dependent on the proximate environment - it is liberated from social expectations and emotional preconceptions. That means that representations of autism in literature have the potential for illustrating modes of morality outside of convention, tradition, history or society.

Asperger's characters dramatize this systematic construction of morality: Christopher from The Curious Incident develops an intransigent sense of 52 Bowker, “Meursault and Moral Freedom", p.58.53 Baron-Cohen, Zero Degrees of Empathy, p.84.54 Baron-Cohen, Zero Degrees of Empathy, p.84.55 Jaarsma, P et al (2011), “Living the Categorical Imperative: autistic perspectives on lying and truth telling-between Kant and care ethics”, Medicine, Health are and Philosophy, (15)(3), p.271.56 Camus, The Myth, p.48.

15

right and wrong, based on loyalty to friends (including dogs) and above all, honesty. In Marcelo in the Real World, Marcelo questions conventional morality (“the reason why some things are right and some things are wrong seem arbitrary”57), yet ultimately establishes, more from "knowledge than feeling",58 a morality code based on principles of equality and an ethic of reciprocity. However, rather than the "golden rule" of reciprocity or consideration for social cohesion, Meursault's unique form of morality is based on logical conclusions drawn from the "feeling of the absurd"59 which has pervaded his life. Although in the first section there is no reference to any underlying belief system, by his actions and reactions to the outside world Meursault convinces us that a subconscious suspicion of the absurdity of the world has been developing within him. At the conclusion of the novel he makes this explicit: "From the depths of my future, throughout the whole of this absurd life I'd been leading, I'd felt a vague breath drifting towards me..." (115) This vague breath is the feeling of the absurd: in Mamun's words "the felt but unspoken philosophy of his existence."60 Meursault subconsciously integrates this vague philosophical sense of the lack of inherent or transcendent meaning in the world with his experiences of life, and constructs a subsequent form of morality which "confers an equivalence"61 on all actions, eschewing guilt, regret or remorse. Absurdism declares that all human values "collapse"62 under the weight of their arbitrariness, concluding that conventional forms of secular or theological morality are superficial and inauthentic. While this may not have explicitly motivated Meursault's crime (as I will discuss in the following sections), the aftermath of the shooting and his attitude towards it clearly elucidates the system of morality that imbues Meursault's life.

57 Stork, Marcelo in the Real World, p.32.58 Stork, Marcelo in the Real World, p.34.59 Camus, The Myth, p.29.60 Mamun, “Society versus Individual in Albert Camus' The Outsider”, p.55.61 Camus, The Myth, p.65.62 Sartre, “Explication of L'Etranger”, in The Stranger, (2001), (ed) Harold Bloom, p.6.

16

Yet rather than representing a complete lack of a moral code, Meursault does follow a number of principles: steadfast honesty to himself; refusal to accept any ideology that mitigates the absurd (particularly religious doctrines promising spiritual life and meaning); and utmost loyalty to life itself, including rejection of despair: “I realised that I'd been happy, and that I was still happy” (117). These are not conventional ethical principles, yet that is to be expected as the absurd itself strongly negates established systems of ethics and morality. As Camus tells us, “the absurd mind cannot so much expect ethical rules at the end of its reasoning.”63 Meursault finds at the end of his reasoning no logical basis for conventional morality: guilt, worth, grief – these all become meaningless moral designations. Meursault's lack of repentance for the murder, and even his lack of nostalgia over his mother's death is a logical acknowledgment of the futility of remorse in a world that has no transcendent meaning. From this perspective the reader's ethical indictments, (or absolution, for that matter) become redundant. As Brombert explains: "Meursault is neither moral nor immoral - but simply absurd."64

Meursault as a Catalyst for Existential Meditation:

Arguably, the philosophical climax of the Meursault's existential mediation is situated in the second part of the story. A transition occurs between pre-murder Meursault and post-murder Meursault. This has nothing to do with the actual murder of the man, which certainly doesn't impact too strongly on Meursault's conscience, but possibly more to do with the consequences of the crime. He is imprisoned; his simple, sensual life has been taken from him; and he is going to die. This precipitates his change, from an "unreflective bearer of experience"65 to an active existential agent, desperately pursuing the questions of his existence within the world before it is taken from him. Previously, these questions

63 Camus, The Myth, p.66.64 Brombert, V (1948), “Camus and the Novel of the "Absurd"”, Yale French Studies, (1)(1), p.119.65 Solomon, From Hegel to Existentialism, p.250.

17

have been in the peripheries of his life – "felt but unspoken."66 He suddenly wakes, and becomes absolutely conscious of his self within this world. This is the ultimate state of Camus' absurd man, and also, as I will explain, an evolved state of the Asperger's character.

This transition is accompanied by a very distinct change in narrative style. Meursault is initially passive, reactive and unreflective: “I'd rather got out of the habit of analysing myself" (65). Yet rather than lacking philosophical significance, as critics such as Bronner suggest, this sensate reality is also a valuable expression of existence in the face of the absurd. It illustrates Camus' emphasis on the visceral appreciation of life, as well as a passive stance against arbitrary social norms. Meursault's life is still imbued with a “feeling of the absurd”67 – the crucial difference is that Meursault was not previously conscious of this "feeling". Subsequently I think the two sections of the novel could be loosely delineated as i) lucid awareness of the world, in terms of literal appreciation of the physical world without ascribing arbitrary meaning to this experience, and ii) lucid awareness of the self within the world, where Meursault begins to examine his position as a conscious being within an unresponsive universe.

Meursault's transition represents his shift from passive (unconscious) to active (conscious). He finds the "truth" of the absurd man: as described by Mamun, “Meursault develops such a rational consciousness that it becomes his moral dogma, his immovable truth. This sudden outburst gradually forces the felt but unspoken philosophy of his existence to emerge into the open, and to finally expresses itself in words.”68 Meursault rejects the constructed meanings of his society, of religion, or culture and recognizes the world as “absurd" (116), without any transcendence or any significance beyond what the hand can touch and the eye can see. But rather than recoiling from this truth, he faces the indifferent universe as a brother: “I laid myself open for the first time to 66 Mamun, “Society versus Individual in Albert Camus' The Outsider”, p.55.67 Camus, A (2005), The Myth of Sisyphus, Penguin Books, London, p.27.68 Mamun, “Society versus Individual in Albert Camus' The Outsider”, p.58.

18

the benign indifference of the world" (117). He finds no reason to despair ("I was still happy" [117]), and no reason to doubt himself: ''But I was sure of myself, sure of everything, surer than he was, sure of my life and sure of the death that was coming to me” (115). Thus, in an absurdist struggle which implies the total absence of hope which has nothing to do with despair, Meursault consciously and unflinchingly confronts the absurd, and his death.

This transition may initially seem inconsistent with an Asperger's reading of the novel. However Meursault's change may in fact mirror a specific trajectory of the Asperger's character. In simple terms, Meursault's situation presents a question: as Camus explains, “one day the 'why' arises and everything begins.”69 The context of his imprisonment and impending death precipitates this problem or question, and Meursault's subsequent internal reflection constitutes a search for answers, a kind of ontological investigation which consumes him in his final days. Looking at this pattern – a certain context posing a question and precipitating a transition from passive and unreflective to a proactive consciousness - it is possible to see links with the transformation of the Asperger's detective as he undergoes the change from immersion everyday life to embarking on the investigation.

The Asperger's Detective:

The Asperger's detective is an extremely common figure in contemporary literature. Arguably the majority of novels within the field of "autism literature" feature an Asperger's detective: Jacob investigates crime scenes in House Rules70; in The London Eye Mystery71 Ted plays detective in finding his lost cousin; in The Curious Incident72 Christopher investigates the mystery of the dead dog; in The Rosie Project73 Don goes

69 Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus, p.11.70 Picoult, J (2010), House Rules, Simon & Schuster, New York.71 Dowd, The London Eye Mystery.72 Haddon, The Curious Incident.73 Simsion, G (2013), The Rosie Project, Penguin, London.

19

in search of Rosie's father; in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo74 Lisbeth helps to investigate a missing girl; in Marcelo in the Real World75 Marcelo searches for the truth behind corporate corruption; and of course, there is the retrospectively claimed original “Asperger's” detective, Sherlock Holmes.

The ubiquity of this character is incredible - but perhaps not surprising. We are familiar with the advantages of Asperger's syndrome: their acute observations combine with a strong focus and an ability to observe the world with forensic precision and a consistently unemotional perspective, producing an exceptional capacity for detection. However perhaps what is most interesting about these characters is the change that they undergo. From a passive, repetitive life of established routines and cautious comfort zones, the character transforms into an active investigatory agent, so driven by the search for answers that it forces them out of their complacent lives. Notably, this transformation and the subsequent quest for truth makes the character develop and evolve – often gaining a reflective dimension that allows them, in a way, to overcome their autistic characteristics. Frith talks of this ability in individuals with Asperger's syndrome to learn and develop throughout adulthood to a point where their autism is scarcely observable. 76 For example, in Marcelo in the Real World, when Marcelo begins his job at his father's law firm he is entirely passive, merely following orders. In many ways he is initially unreflective - he explains that he didn't even know what work the firm was involved in. But then he discovers a photo of a maimed girl, and must act independently to find the answers behind the picture. Within a certain context, Marcelo changes – he becomes active and reflective. He self-reflectively describes a feeling "I'd never felt before... like a question that had to be answered."77 Through this

74 Larsson, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.75 Stork, Marcelo in the Real World, Scholastic. 76 Frith, Autism and Asperger's Syndrome.77 Stork, Marcelo in the Real World, p.75.

20

process of investigation, he learns about himself and the world, eventually evolving and transcending the social limitations of his autism.

So, within a certain context, faced with a question (implicit or explicit), the Asperger's character can start from a passive state, reacting to his or her environment, and transform into a dynamic detective embarked upon a certain kind of quest narrative, thus ultimately developing as an individual. I would argue that on an elementary level, Meursault's transition mirrors this trajectory. Within a certain context - as Camus describes it, the "Why?"78 arises - Meursault transforms from a passive state, merely reacting to events around him, into an impassioned existential agent, searching for answers to his ontological emptiness. Meursault is driven to explore his "absurd" existence, consciously examining this "feeling" of the absurd that had pervaded his life. His "investigation" is, in Sagi's words, "an explication of existence."79 What he discovers is a renewed, conscious fervor for life: “And I too felt ready to live my life again…” (117). Meursault develops as an individual: in his growth, he even develops a “glimmer of empathy”,80 thinking finally of his mother: “I felt that I understood... So close to death, mother must have felt liberated and ready to live her life again” (117). In addition to this poignant insight, the very fact that Meursault is analyzing another person shows that his character has changed and evolved.

In rebuttal to those who believe that autism reduces an individual's capacity for existential introspection, Oliver Sacks explains that "autists still experience existential wonder – perhaps some even more so, because they do not feel inherently linked to the social network of humanity."81 In fact in many ways the isolated Asperger's character possesses the capacity for transformation into an active investigatory agent; their lack of self-deception; and their disconnection from social and cultural belief

78 Camus, "Afterword", The Outsider.79 Sagi, “The Novel's Real Concern: Social Alienation”, in The Stranger: Bloom's Guides, (2008), (ed) Harold Bloom, p.73.80 Martin, “Autism, Empathy and Existentialism”, Raritan, p.89.81 Sacks, An Anthropologist, p.280.

21

systems, is an ideal catalyst for lucid metaphysical exploration of human existence. As Meursault's character changes he proves a similar catalyst for existential meditation within the reader: we too are asked to question such absurdist preoccupations as the validity of conventional answers to the meaning of life.

The "Everyday" Structure in Absurdism and Autism:

Yet The Outsider's challenge to our perception of the meaning of life is not only expressed in broad existential questions, but in the "everyday" structure of an individual's life: a function which is personified by the Asperger's character. Beyond the social and emotional aspects which I have previously described, stereotyped patterns of behaviour such as preference for routine constitute a major component of Asperger's syndrome.82 This is less prominent in Meursault but nevertheless still apparent, and I think this really locates Camus' absurdism precisely where he intended it – in the routine of the "everyday". According to The Myth it is in this “path of daily life…the chain of daily gestures”83 that the individual must be most conscious of not surrendering to the allure of “the illusion”84 that one's life and actions have a larger meaning. Meursault's days, as far as we can extrapolate from the initial part of the book, are repetitive and monotonous. He works; he eats at Celeste's; he swims and he sleeps. He is quite meticulous in organising his time, especially when they involve deviations from his routine: “The old people's home is at Marengo, fifty miles from Algiers. I'll catch the two o'clock bus.” (9) Meursault is fond of small, specific habits of behaviour: “before leaving the office to go for lunch, I washed my hands. I like doing this at lunchtime.” (29) As O'Brien suggests, the “textual surface” of the absurd is found in “the description of mundane, banal daily life.”85 Camus maintains that this everyday life and its trivial sensory experiences are

82 American Psychiatric Association, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, p.80.83 Camus, The Myth, p.11.84 Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus, p.14.85 O'Brien, C (1970), Camus, HarperCollins, New York, p.89.

22

central to our ability to exist in the face of the world's lack of meaning. An Asperger's character amplifies this, creating an "every day" which is even more repetitive, more structured than the average person. It is precisely within Meursault's “ordinary routines”,86 as Champigny labels them, that Camus' absurdist concerns are situated, as he believed that without acknowledgement of the absurd, living in the everyday will “make man a slave”87 to illusions of meaning. Meursault's ability to live within this structure and enjoy the simple, repetitive pleasures without attributing false meaning or significance to its pattern actually liberates him from the pitfalls of modern existence that Camus warns against. His liberation is further achieved after his imprisonment, his death sentence and his shift into conscious awareness of the absurd, as I have previously described. This is where he becomes consciously aware of the arbitrary, superficial nature of the routines that structure people's lives: Camus describes how suddenly, the absurd person sees through this routine, and "the chain of daily gestures is broken.”88 As Meursault recognises, "I'd done this and I hadn't done that. I'd done one thing and I hadn't done another. So what?" (115) Several critics believe that this moment is the only philosophically significant part of the novel - Bronner states that the first section is merely to position Meursault in the "habit of living",89 that his daily routine was a kind of blanket, obscuring both "the precious quality of life"90 and the true absurd nature of the world. But as I have said before, I think this is far too dismissive of Meursault's initial mode of living. His life was certainly not imbued with the ambitions, dreams or other "illusions" that Camus believed were used to hide from the absurd. He lived without apophenic delusions of the overarching narrative significance of his life, and his routine was merely a minimalist structure that allowed him to live conveniently, easily and with the simple sensory enjoyments that life could afford him.

86 Champigny, R, “Ethics and Aesthetics in The Stranger”, in The Stranger, (2001), (ed) Harold Bloom, p.71.87 Camus, The Myth, p.56.88 Camus, The Myth, p.11.89 Bronner, Camus: Portrait of a Moralist, p.34.90 Bronner, Camus: Portrait of a Moralist, p.35.

23

The Sensory Present:

This unsentimental, sensual experience of everyday life makes Meursault an extremely unique observer figure – with his attentiveness to the present moment and sensate reality, he has the potential to de-familiarise the reader with their known world, mirroring Shklovksy's declaration that the purpose of art is to impart the sensation of things as they are perceived and not as they are known.91 As expressed in The Myth, this is "a way of awakening a sleeping world and making it vivid to the mind."92 A perpetual, self-aware consciousness is implicit in the absurd existence: "The present and the succession of presents before a constantly conscious soul is the ideal of the absurd man."93 Camus declares that in a world without intrinsic meaning, in the body of a creature that has no higher purpose, the only true value is the conscious, sensual enjoyment of life. The value of the physical, the literal, the empirical - this must, according to Camus, replace any illusions of higher meaning or hope of transcendence: "Between this sky and these faces turned towards it, nothing on which to hang a mythology, a literature, an ethic, or a religion, but stones, flesh, stars and those truths the hand can touch."94 This is the only method man has in confronting his own obscurity and the only possibility for reclaiming the value of life in a world which has been stripped of its values.

Meursault's "lucid awareness"95 of the present moment provides further proof as to the crucial function of the Asperger's character in this philosophical exposition. Olga Bogdashina explains how autism often involves perceptual issues, which vary in expression but most often involve “hypersensitivity” – to olfactory, visual, auditory and tactile sensory stimuli.96 This can influence and even overwhelm the individual's cognition. Meursault himself explains this trait of physical senses 91 Shklovsky, Theory of Prose, p.6.92 Camus, The Myth, p.42.93 Camus, The Myth, p.62.94 Camus, A “Summer in Algiers”, in The Myth of Sisyphus, (2013), Penguin, London, p.108.95 Sartre, JP, “Explication of L'Etranger”, p.12.

24

overriding cognitive processes: “by nature my physical needs often distorted my feelings” (65). Meursault is often overwhelmed by these sensory overloads: "I could feel my eyes getting tired watching the street like this with its mass of people and lights" (27); "the heat was pushing full against me as I tried to walk" (58). Yet at the same time this can create an extreme attention to the physical present: heightened sensory awareness like Meursault's can create an acutely conscious sensate reality which, as is repeatedly emphasized by Camus in The Myth, is one of the only (if not the only) value in life. He declares "the purest of joys is feeling, and feeling on this earth."97 As an Asperger's character Meursault provides a realistic neurological substrate for absurdism's "truth born of living and feeling",98 embodying the value of our sensory present.

The sensory hypersensitivy of the Asperger's character could, in fact, provide an explanation for Meursault's murder of the man on the beach that reconciles the novel's philosophical animus with the reader's desire to locate Meursault as a consistent character. If Meursault's explanation of the murder as a passive, involuntary event is taken at face value, then we are left with an event that is as arbitrary as the world that Meursault lives in – a pure "absurd act", without motivation, without meaning, without reason. In negating the tendency to ascribe meaning and purpose to our actions, Meursault's crime begins to mirror the absurd universe he lives in – irreparably arbitrary and entirely outside of human meaning. Bronner similarly recognises that "it was a gratuitous act, an act without reason or justification.”99 Like Morreale, I believe the term "absurd act" is more appropriate than "murder" in explaining Meursault's actions. Yet in taking away Meursault's agency and defining this controversial event through the novel's superstructure of the absurd, we are left with an explanation that may be unsatisfying for the reader.

96 Bogdashina, Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger's Syndrome, p.1.97 Camus, The Myth, p.61.98 Camus, “Afterword”, in The Outsider, p.119.99 Bronner, Portrait of a Moralist, p.32.

25

Through this lens, the crime becomes bizarre and incomprehensible because its reasoning lies in abstract philosophy rather than real world, human terms. This is where the productivity of an Asperger's-informed interpretation of Meursault becomes crucial in restoring the reader's connection to the character. Without attributing any meaning, motivation or purpose behind the act – maintaining its arbitrary position of an absurd event – the shooting can be explained by the autistic experience of sensory overload, where hypersensitivity to sensory stimuli can quite literally override cognitive processes and produce involuntary actions. During the trial, Meursault is asked why he shot the man, and tells the court “it was because of the sun” (99). The court laughs at him, but through the lens of cognitive criticism we can take Meursault's explanation literally and it is no longer ludicrous or insufficient. He was overwhelmed by his physical senses, by the heat and light of the sun, and unwittingly committed a purely random act, without moral or philosophical reason.

By entering into the expanding dialogue between the cognitive sciences and the arts, it is possible to discuss the links between the philosophical ideas which we consciously use to frame our reality, and the neurological states which fundamentally shape our reality. An Asperger's character, Meursault creates a link between philosophical ideas and a real world condition. As I have explored, Asperger's presents a literary figure congenial to articulating an absurdist subject position, not as a doctrine but as a lived orientation to the world, subsequently allowing a deeper exploration of our social, emotional and sensory life. Simultaneously, locating literary autism as a vehicle for philosophical and social criticism underlines the emergence of Asperger's as a powerful cultural figure, allowing us to examine the human condition from a unique vantage point which, according to Sacks, “might never be seen, or even imaginable, in [its] absence.”100 Literary representations of autism depict a unique mode of perceiving the world, a cognitive style which, as Sacks and a growing

100 Sacks, An Anthropologist, p.xiv.

26

number of literary and medical academics suggest, may be far from an aberration or disability, instead providing a perspicacious perspective on our cultural, philosophical and moral belief systems. This is an example of the mutual exchange that can occur between creative literature and neurology: as Meursault proves, neurological conditions in literature can provide a vehicle for humanitarian and existential exploration. Yet the converse is equally true: in recognising the literary functions of neurological conditions, we highlight the broader cultural significance of these diagnostic categories within our real world.

Despite the fecundity of this mutual exchange, many still believe that the conflation of literary-philosophical figures such as Meursault with neurological categories is in some sense profane. During the radio program To the Best of our Knowledge: Albert Camus, philosopher Mark Rowlands declares that to study Camus' absurdist texts is “to peer into a world before neuroscience came to dominate our thinking about... how we construct meaning in our lives.”101 He believes that science gives us “a false understanding” - a science of the brain could never “fill that existential void” opened up by the novel, and Camus could not take “comfort” from a neurological understanding of reality. This is a manifestation of precisely the kind of anxiety about scientific reductionism and determinism that my thesis has aimed to dispel. Firstly, it is odd to discuss an “existential void" as if it were anything but a product of our own neurology - as our consciousness itself, and all our thoughts, beliefs and feelings inevitably are. But more importantly, a neurological understanding of literature, philosophy and ontology does not demolish the beauty or fascination of literary explorations of the human condition. In terms of The Outsider, this framework certainly does not crudely simplify or dismiss the existential exploration the novel conducts. As I have described, the transformative possibilities of cognitive criticism allows us to re-evaluate the significance of Meursault,

101 Rowlands, M (2003), in To The Best of Our Knowledge: Albert Camus, audio recording, Wisconsin Public Radio, Wisconsin.

27

absurdism and autism within an expanded literary space. Perhaps these developments in neurological understanding of philosophy and literature would not "comfort" Camus, but they provide a rich and exciting potential for the interpretation of his work, and indeed for all genres of literature, within the context of our modern world.