I saw this sentence from Albert Camus yesterday and was thinking whats the meaning of "there"here and why the translator didn't put "lays" instead of "lay". It seems there is a point behind this and not simply a typing mistake, isn't it so?
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1Very simple: lie, lay, lain. Lay is past tense. – Lambie Nov 8 '16 at 15:44
This is correct.
There in this sentence is the same 'dummy' subject used in the "existential" construction† there is—this construction may be used with many verbs signifying a state of presence or existence, or entry into that state, such as stand, appear, seem, flourish, arise, come, arrive
Lay here is not an infinitive but the past-tense form of lie.
† ...which has nothing to do with the fact that Camus was an existentialist writer