The structure of L'Etranger is founded on the dialectical relationship between conflictual pairs of principles: eros and thanatos, the noumenal and the phenomenal, and above all the diurnal (antithesis, aggression, negation) and the nocturnal (reconciliation, passivity, euphemization). The latter dialectic manifests itself in the change from the first half of the work, which is predominantly diurnal in character (outdoors and daytime activities, bright sunshine), and the second, which is primarily nocturnal (imprisonment, sleep, and generally indoors activities). Perhaps its most significant manifestation, however, is that which pits the protagonist against the world in which he lives. It is this form taken by the diurnal/nocturnal conflict that motivates and explains both the centrally‐located climax (the violent incident on the sun‐struck beach) and the final welcoming of the eternal night and darkness of de