How has Albert Camus delineated radically distinctive existentialism in The Stranger?

The main distinction from the actual philosophy of existentialism in Camus’ fictive work is his concentration not on the question of whether existence precedes essence (the foundation of the philosophy as explained by Sartre in Being and Nothingness), but rather Camus’ fictional depiction of the difficulty in determining the consequences of one’s actions.  To be sure, some consequences of our choices are apparent and immediate, but many others are not.  From the very first...

The main distinction from the actual philosophy of existentialism in Camus’ fictive work is his concentration not on the question of whether existence precedes essence (the foundation of the philosophy as explained by Sartre in Being and Nothingness), but rather Camus’ fictional depiction of the difficulty in determining the consequences of one’s actions.  To be sure, some consequences of our choices are apparent and immediate, but many others are not.  From the very first line of The Stranger it is clear that the “facts” on which we base our choices and decisions are not always sound and unequivocal; Mersault’s shooting of the “native,” an act in itself ambiguous and almost unintentional, is an example of the difficulty built into living the “existential” life.  Not only are the consequences “invisible” to the moment, but our actual motives for choosing one action over another are not always steered by a moral (that is, answering to a code of action in the absence of “design”) consideration.  This awareness and fictionalization of the difficulties in living an existentialist philosophy are what make Camus' work "radically distinctive."