Response to Question 1: The Perfect StrangerHarun, who is effectively a proxy for Kamel Daoud himself, narrates the story of his brother’s murder in ways that pay ironic homage to Camus’s The Stranger. In fact, The Meursault Investigation would not and could not exist were it not for The Stranger, which for Daoud—and Harun—epitomizes the essence of the colonial mentality. Yet Harun and his creator also understand the paradoxical and complex relationship between Algeria and France. It is not possible to reasonably discard all elements of French culture and society; the post-colonial pride that emerges in Algeria is one that must contend with its contemporary status and identity as a former French colony. As such, the allusions to The Stranger are at once deeply admiring, almost reverential while at the same time filled with bitterness and pathos. Harun’s words lauding Camus are both literal and ironic, bearing witness to the tremendous social and psychological burden of constructing a postcolonial identity.

The allusions to The Stranger are deliberate, conscious, and meaningful, providing the framework for The Mersault Investigation. Harun is self-consciously admiring of Camus, noting from the opening passages of his narration how central Mersault’s crime has been to his family, to his own psychological development, and to his society as a whole. Mersault’s crime was at once “committed with absolute impunity” and “wasn’t a crime anyway,” given the differential status between Mersault and his victim (Daoud 6). Whereas Camus constructed a nameless, faceless victim, Harun...

Therefore, Harun’s declaration of respect for Camus’s literary prowess is ironic because it gives credence to the overarching structures of colonialism that enabled his brother’s murder in the first place. Harun does show, however, that it is possible to disparage the structure of colonialism while still being able to respect or admire the vestiges of French civilization.
Because Camus also presented a dichotomous view of colonialism in The Stranger, Harun is able to deftly balance the need on the one hand to expose the French author’s prejudices while also acknowledging that Camus was merely a product of his time. Harun gives credit to Camus’s recognition of existential absurdity, of the irrationality of religion and the search for “a God who doesn’t exist,” (Daoud 5). Camus presented a bleak and meaningless portrait of the world, and Harun seeks to rectify that worldview by seeking meaning, justice, and the truth. Musa’s murder is a springboard for reconciliation. Harun realizes the futility in pursuing a path in which French language, culture, and literature are completely discarded and opts for a middle path. Harun does seem to lack self-awareness at certain points in the novel, particularly in that he claims not to speak from “sorrow or anger,” when in fact clearly the man possesses both (Daoud 6). In spite of this, Harun’s continual reference to The Stranger…