Albert Camus - novel - 1971 - p. 48

Published a decade after the author’s death in a car accident at age 46, A Happy Death contains elements that would be developed more fully in The Stranger; the former centers around the pursuit and construction of happiness. Its protagonist, Patrice Mersault, suffers within the tedium of his daily life and office job and becomes friends with a wealthy disabled man named Zagreus. After the two meditate together on how to achieve happiness (Zagreus holds the view that it is largely a matter of time and money), Mersault kills Zagreus, takes his money, relocates to Algiers, marries a woman about whom he does not feel particularly strongly, and moves into an isolated house by himself. He dies happy, feeling he has attained an abandonment of self and attachment.

Key elements: Europe, Greek mythology, marriage