Trigger warnings: suicide, violence

Money can’t buy happiness, or can it? Camus’ A Happy Death (La Mort Heureuse) is an absurdist novella that tells the story of Patrice Mersault, a French Algerian clerk seeking a way to die ‘without anger, without hatred, without regret.’ After fatally shooting his wealthy and legless friend Zagreus, Mersault sets off for Europe with a desire to find everlasting happiness.

A Happy Death stands as a cornerstone in the development of absurdism. Its protagonist, Mersault, lives a miserable existence, miserable in the sense that there is nothing particularly good, interesting or meaningful in his life. He does not love his girlfriend Marthe, instead he loves the attention she receives from others; he despises his monotonous routine and mundane job; he would rather sleep than be awake; and his state of impersonality is almost suffocating – this is until Zagreus offers him a way out. Though he is rich, Zagreus finds his existence, as Mersault does, pointless because his amputated legs prevent him from living his life to the fullest extent. Zagreus argues that finding happiness requires time, and that to have money is to have time. He then implies to Mersault that if he were to be killed, the money could be used to buy Mersault time and thus happiness. Mersault obliges and travels across Europe soon after the homicide to avoid arrest.

What follows is a disorderly collection of philosophical monologues, romantic vignettes, excerpts from travel diaries, and letters. Though at times structurally incohesive, Camus’ depiction of Mersault’s transformation into a happy man is well executed, often appearing in the form of enlightened and euphoric free indirect speeches. ‘Of all the men he had carried inside himself, as every man does at the beginning of this life, of all those various rootless, mingling beings he had created his life with consciousness, with courage. That was his whole happiness in living and dying.’

For certain reasons, Camus had never intended A Happy Death to be published; much of its material was later used as the foundation for his more popular work The Stranger. But after its retrieval from his private papers, Camus first novella attempt was published posthumously in 1971. The rambling nature of the narrative can be therefore partly forgiven, nevertheless Camus does exhibit versatility in his writing style, as in the case of the third chapter of the second part, when the past tense narration is substituted for the present. The sudden change in narrative style is a refreshing break from the heavy discourse, and adds a vibrant and casual tone, reflected in Camus’ frequent use of Mersault’s forename, and his nickname ‘the Boy’.

Fundamentally, though, A Happy Death is a messy work. Camus’ principal ideas concerning the way to establish a meaningful life, and a happy death, are there, but this novella lacks the clear structural progression necessary to make it an engaging story. But what can be understood from Mersault’s story is that happiness, true happiness, comes from within. It should not be reliant on our careers, studies, relationships and other external factors, it requires a practiced solitude. We must find comfort and happiness in isolation, for everyone must face death alone.

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