The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays

Jun 28, 2011

Joshua Nomen-Mutatio rated it

Shelves: philosophy, essays

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Mar 03, 2008

Jason rated it

Recommends it for: slaves, idiots, conceited philosophy students, kafkaphiles, morons

Recommended to Jason by: Ian Karell

Okay, so the basic premise in this book is that there are two schools of thought involved with becoming conscious as a man. There is one in which you become conscious of God, accepting faith as the channel between this world and the next. Existence is a matter of order, one that is concrete and follows the compelling obligations towards the God whom you commit your faith.

The other option is the absurd, for which this book is written. The problem asks is it possible not to commit...moreOkay, so the basic premise in this book is that there are two schools of thought involved with becoming conscious as a man. There is one in which you become conscious of God, accepting faith as the channel between this world and the next. Existence is a matter of order, one that is concrete and follows the compelling obligations towards the God whom you commit your faith.

The other option is the absurd, for which this book is written. The problem asks is it possible not to commit suicide in a meaningless world and without faith in God. The absurd man simply states, I and my plight are ephemeral, but I still choose life. Why?

The comparison to Sisyphus is made through this absurd man. A man who is doomed by the gods to perpetually push a rock up a mountain which becomes steeper as it moves up. Eventually slope takes the better of the effort and as a matter of prescribed definition the rock falls down the hill; to which, the man, Sisyphus, must start again. The absurd man follows the archetype of the Sisyphus myth of which Camus says is “wanting to know,” and in wanting to know realizing that the whole of existence is a continuous repetition, nothing is gained nor loss; “the sin of which the absurd man can feel guilt and innocence.”

This is not existentialism. It is presupposed in an existence without explanation that it is unreasonable to assume anything concrete. As Camus puts it, “the theme of the irrational, as it is conceived by the existentials, is reason becoming confused and escaping by negating itself.” He confines the absurd to, rather than negation, setting up a “lucid reasoning,” or playground for activity, and merely “noting limits” so that you are free to work within your living situation.

It’s all about cheerful compliance. Realizing you’re in the situation and you’re damned to it. Fuck it. It’s not that I’m lost in this absent void of existence, with no telling of the future and no cause for impetus. I realize that there is a chance, be it strong or tiny, that there is a vastness far beyond the compelling straits of life that leave me wondering “what’s the difference?” If I do anything, I am compelled to the possibility of it not mattering. Camus was talking about a “lucid indifference” to this. Saying, I live it. It would be a crime to strip my life of the possibility of something. Even if I am a slave I can sing. I give up on morality, a legitimization of my actions that either says this, based on prescribed foundations “okays” it or disallows it. Really, the impetus is for responsibility. What I do in this life is directly reflected in this life. If I steal, then there is recourse. If I lie; but what if someone lies to me? I guess it’s the categorical imperative, but sans morality. Morality lines things within the sights of God, establishing guilt. What is guilt? It’s mindless, an obscenity. I feel guilt for not abiding to my addiction. Who can identify the real factions of guilt, who can identify its sincerity. It’s emotional. I’d rather be rational. I’d rather see that this whole circus, a great jibe of the floating, tender inevitability of death is but a contraption set for me to build and destroy and collect and decipher. Camus said, “for the absurd man it is not a matter of explaining and solving, but of experiencing and describing. Everything begins with lucid indifference.” I am in a state of despair. Anything that I do has no value. On the other hand, I am living and I am breathing and in a strange way I have a personal freedom unpronounced by most people who establish their own freedoms. All I have to do is have faith in my freedom and like a majesty that is lain out in silver robes before me, it is there. I only have to respect that I am living in a free slate, unmitigated by a stratified moral imperative that limits so many people from following intuition and there actual imperative needs. Do you believe in destiny? That we all have a purpose and it is designated by our need to imbibe the principles of our life into a system that we can identify for ourselves. There is that mode of philosophy that says that we are the people whom we are, we are meant to be these people, this specific type of person completely genuine to himself and totally as that self. My identity is the world surrounding me combusting into a single frame that I can represent justly by my merely living life as I should be doing it. I do not need to live up to this social strata of an impartial development towards nowhere, rather I should live life as I make fit, feeling good. Feeling established. So what if my endeavors are rooted to rolling a rock up a hill at least I have something to do, in the formation of my universe I need a place to put what is concrete, even if there is nothing concrete. As analogous creatures, if we do not have any basis to compare then we are no more capable of being thoughtful than a bar of soap. I’d rather be the dirt, simply abiding to my state of being, minus the will, minus the infirmity, I’d be an obstacle for the righteous, and standing in the way I could laugh at the adversity, laugh at the spectacle of my life so deranged in its absurdity. And at the last moment before my death, that is how I could acknowledge that I was alive. Or how I am still alive, whatever.
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Jun 01, 2008

Yuval rated it

Most of my friends will probably think I'm being sarcastic when I call this as good a "self-help" book as any I can imagine, but this essay honestly inspired in me an awe of human nature and its absurd indomitability. I think Camus gets a bad rap for being a cold, detached pessimist who only points out the meaninglessness of life again and again in his books. OK, he may indeed declare life "meaningless," but this book is passionately affirmative of life in the face of that vo...more

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Feb 07, 2008

Patrick rated it

Recommends it for: philosophers, dorm room and otherwise

Shelves: books-read-in-2008

There was a part of me that really, really, really wanted to give this book 4 stars because of the way it made me think about life and consider and reconsider my own notions about the meaning we make in our worlds. It contained some really interested ideas regarding the philosophy of absurdism, which I would best describe as something of a happy medium between existentialism and nihilism, though I understand Camus himself might consider it nihilism's polar opposite.

That said, I can't...more

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Jun 07, 2007

Mme. Bookling ~ rated it

In this philosophical essay, Camus presents and defends his philosophical school of thought entitled the philosophy of the absurd.

The philosophy of the absurd asks about man's futile search for meaning in a world which it devoid of eternity. He presupposes the question: Does the realization of the absurdity of life mean suicide is the best option for mankind? Throughout the essay, he comes to say that suicide is not the best option--but revolt.

This is seriously such a fa...moreIn this philosophical essay, Camus presents and defends his philosophical school of thought entitled the philosophy of the absurd.

The philosophy of the absurd asks about man's futile search for meaning in a world which it devoid of eternity. He presupposes the question: Does the realization of the absurdity of life mean suicide is the best option for mankind? Throughout the essay, he comes to say that suicide is not the best option--but revolt.

This is seriously such a fascinating review of existentialism and the meaninglessness of life. It leaves you with the thought (to do with as you will)-- "What counts is not the best living but the most living."

The last chapter deals with the actual myth--this is taken from wikipedia:

In the last chapter, Camus outlines the legend of Sisyphus who defied the gods and put Death in chains so that no human needed to die. When Death was eventually liberated and it came time for Sisyphus himself to die, he concocted a deceit which let him escape from the underworld. Finally captured, the gods decided on his punishment: for all eternity, he would have to push a rock up a mountain; on the top, the rock rolls down again and Sisyphus has to start over. Camus sees Sisyphus, who lives life to the fullest, hates death and is condemned to a meaningless task, as the absurd hero.

Camus presents Sisyphus's ceaseless and pointless toil as a metaphor for modern lives spent working at futile jobs in factories and offices. "The workman of today works every day in his life at the same tasks, and this fate is no less absurd. But it is tragic only at the rare moments when it becomes conscious."

Camus is interested in Sisyphus' thoughts when marching down the mountain, to start anew. This is the tragic moment, when the hero becomes conscious of his wretched condition. He does not have hope, but "[t]here is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn." Acknowledging the truth will conquer it; Sisyphus, just like the absurd man, keeps pushing. Camus argues that Sisyphus is truly happy precisely because the futility of his task is beyond doubt: the certainty of Sisyphus' fate frees him to recognize the absurdity of his plight and to carry out his actions with contented acceptance, which Camus argues to be a form of true happiness. With a nod to the similarly cursed Greek hero Oedipus, Camus concludes that "all is well."

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Aug 18, 2011

Jasmine rated it

Shelves: algerian

okay... so um... I say read the novels... I mean maybe I'm just stupid these days but this is not as good. it seems to me that camus has a fundamental difficulty... um... carrying his own train of thought, he's far too all over the place for me here which made it almost impossible to follow the logic which made it impossible to stay engaged.

I'm really debating stars I want to give it 2 cause I know what camus is capable of, but I also know the ideas that are found under this mess an...more

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Jan 31, 2008

Danny rated it

just goes to show, hope itself is useless and irresponsible. one creates beauty. it cannot be "arrived at."

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Apr 13, 2009

Adrian Colesberry rated it

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Classic for a reason. This book is a tonic for any agnostic or cynic struggling with the whole meaning-of-life thing. Camus, in a way that I find totally satisfying, solves that problem without the standard religious cop-out of locating meaning outside this world.
What is wrong with being Sisyphus? Is this a punishment or is this just what life is if you take you head out of the bubble for long enough to see the truth of things. My essential vision of life I more or less cribbed from Camus...more

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Apr 02, 2009

Pierce added it

"The stars don't shine upon us, We're in the way of their light," sings David Berman.

I have never understood so little of a book. Camus takes a long time to draw his set-up into a clear, understandable thread but by the last third I was beginning to absorb most of his gist. I am not used to reading philosophical texts. They are structured like scientific dialogues but they speak of consciousness and emotions, so I often feel myself led down a fork in the road before I have ...more"The stars don't shine upon us, We're in the way of their light," sings David Berman.

I have never understood so little of a book. Camus takes a long time to draw his set-up into a clear, understandable thread but by the last third I was beginning to absorb most of his gist. I am not used to reading philosophical texts. They are structured like scientific dialogues but they speak of consciousness and emotions, so I often feel myself led down a fork in the road before I have fully evaluated my options.

Another part my problem was that I couldn't locate his definition of absurdity. Following frequent lectures by M I had a good handle on it, I thought, but it read like I had missed a chapter somewhere, or fell asleep during some part of it. If I had to put a definition on it myself I might call absurdity "observed chaos". For the universe is chaotic by nature but not absurd until filtered through the mind of a person whose natural predilection is to search for meaning. Perhaps his assumption was that we'd read the preceding Kierkegaard. He certainly refers to a lot of previous texts as a matter of course.

I once imagined that the main question that divided us all was the existence of a god. That there could be no more fundamental divide between two people than a disagreement over divine existence. Lately, as religious conviction and practices relax, I find myself encountering more and more people who do not necessarily believe in God, as such, but still believe in some outside meaning ascribed by the cosmos. Certain events are "meant" to happen, people are "meant" to find each other. I've lately begun to think that the broader question that separates us is those who believe that something outside ourselves ordains meaning and those who do not.

My main issue with Camus' take on the absurd man is the suggestion that the lack of greater meaning or an afterlife absolves him from living morally. This is most often the position taken against atheists, but believing the universe is chaotic does not negate one's empathy. Believing that meaning is not imposed by the universe and also that it is wrong to inflict pain on others that one would prefer to avoid oneself are not mutually exclusive. It doesn't matter that empathy is a survival trait naturally evolved to maintain order in groups. It does not matter one whit.

I also draw a clear distinction between hope and faith, Camus lumps them together, seeing Dostoevsky's characters' descent into such a betrayal of absurdist "values". But I'm taken, overall, with his interpretation of Sisyphus. Of course we do not need to commit suicide because the universe has no meaning. We are along for the ride, like everything else in the way of the stars.(less)

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Mar 29, 2009

Samantha rated it

This essay is one I have visited more times than I'd like to admit. The Myth of Sisyphus sets the structural foundation for the absurdist perceptions and views of literary works that place emphasis on these similar themes. The Myth of Sisyphus depicts the absurd by challenging the moral standards by which society exists. Sisyphus projects society’s inane mission to rationalize the irrational but counters it by providing examples that reflect our mundane existence and exemplify futile and hopeles...more

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Jan 25, 2012

Roger DeBlanck rated it

In classical form, Camus presents his humanistic philosophy of the absurd. He shows how great benefits to life can be gained from accepting the premise that the world is without ultimate meaning. Acknowledgment of this idea allows life to be lived to its fullest, knowing that nothing is beyond this world. With this said, Camus argues that suicide is the only real problem. As an absurd act, suicide does not confront life. Rather, it surrenders to life by foolishly and carelessly abolishing one's ...more

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Nov 21, 2011

Josh rated it

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The "other essays" in the title I read, like, a year-and-a-half ago and didn't see how they were remarkable. The past three days, however, I've spent reading Sisyphus finally--this is my fourth attempt and the first time I got past page eleven. The first half is hard; I definitely have not grasped many of the specifics. The second half is devoted to illustrating what the absurd is/could be in personality types and through certain authors' works. (The philosophers and authors referenced...moreThe "other essays" in the title I read, like, a year-and-a-half ago and didn't see how they were remarkable. The past three days, however, I've spent reading Sisyphus finally--this is my fourth attempt and the first time I got past page eleven. The first half is hard; I definitely have not grasped many of the specifics. The second half is devoted to illustrating what the absurd is/could be in personality types and through certain authors' works. (The philosophers and authors referenced, of course, I have not read yet.) Those first eleven pages are profound. Camus proposes that life has no inherent meaning, that we spend its duration denying that knowledge, and then asks why we see meaninglessness as a bad thing. He's right. Where did that correlation originate? Camus asks if suicide is justified if we (the post-Nietzche we, I'm assuming, who know God to be "dead," a myth) see that life is meaningless. He doesn't seem to think so. He identifies the "absurd" state--where we know everything we do is futile because there is no eternity, no reward or punishment, no symbolic home to return to--and terms it as such because part of its inherent nature is that we are in perpetual revolt against this knowledge; it cannot be accepted. (He even differentiates "hopelessness" and "despair," pointing out how divergent and unrelated they actually are.) So suffering, like Jesus did, is pointless. I don't think Camus is saying anything as simple as "live for the present," but I don't think he's refuting that either. He says we should see Sisyphus as happy when he descends to retrieve the rock. I, unable to reconcile the absurd, truly cannot grasp why he would be. The moments of clarity I felt, particularly in those eleven pages, are as profound as thought can be. It's a proposition so untenable and yet irrefutable, within Camus's terms, that I can't actually hold on to it firmly enough to articulate it. I'm just having repeated moments of totally ephemeral insight. Impossible insight... What the fuck can anyone say about Camus? (less)

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May 17, 2010

Venus rated it

Shelves: myth

تمام شادی خاموش سیزیف در این امر نهفته است.قسمت او مال خودش است،سنگش نیز همینطور.مرد ناامید وقتی به شکنجه خود می اندیشد،تمام خدایان دروغین را سر جای خود مینشاند.در جهانی که ناگهان به سکوت خود بازگشته است،ده ها هزار صدای کوچک سرگردان برمی خیزد.بدون سایه خورشیدی نخواهد بود و شناختن شب واجب است.انسان ناامید میگوید آری و لذا تلاش هایش بی پایان خواهد بود.او در می یابد خداوندگار روزگار خود است.در آن لحظه ظریف نظری بر عقب زندگی خود می اندازد.سیزیف که به سوی سنگ خود بازمیگردد،در ان چرخش ناچیز،او به آن ا...more

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Jul 07, 2009

David rated it

This thesis on existentialism is written in a form that I found hard to assimilate. Camus wades through his philosophy with colloquial writing style and anecdotal reasoning, rather that a structured analysis with proofs and objectivity. In spite of these shortcomings, his use and interpretation of Sisyphus, not as a tragic character but a hero, is profound. Analogously, Camus says we should find satisfaction and heart in executing whatever meaningless struggle lies before us. It represents a...more

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Aug 08, 2009

Creamymole rated it

As a person who has suffered with the transitory feelings of depersonalization and existential malaise that Camus focused on in this book, I was very excited and hopeful that I would gain some insight and possibly find a path to meaning (stupid monkey, still seeking) elucidated in his essay. Instead, what I found was a very convoluted and inconsistent mash of thought and judgement. The use of passive voice and incomplete sentence structures are a nuisance. In only nine pages of reading, I had no...moreAs a person who has suffered with the transitory feelings of depersonalization and existential malaise that Camus focused on in this book, I was very excited and hopeful that I would gain some insight and possibly find a path to meaning (stupid monkey, still seeking) elucidated in his essay. Instead, what I found was a very convoluted and inconsistent mash of thought and judgement. The use of passive voice and incomplete sentence structures are a nuisance. In only nine pages of reading, I had no dearth of confusions. It's quite possible, maybe even likely, that the limits of my *lucidity* made all the difference, but I had a very difficult time coming to terms with many of Camus statements. It's all either/or for this guy. Either you're using platitudinous truisms or lofty idealism to think about essential philosophical problems. Either you act according to your beliefs without exception or you are not living authentically at all. There's more, but I weary of reiterating. I didn't finish the text. I wanted to. I really don't like quitting a book... But the first paragraph of "Absurd Walls" did me in..
"Like great works, deep feelings always mean more than they are conscious of saying."
I reply: Feelings don't have consciousness. I believe he says here that deep feelings are deeper than they know. That's a retarded statement.
"The regularity of an impulse or a repulsion in a soul is encountered again in habits of doing or thinking, is reproduced in consequences of which the soul knows nothing."
I reply: For someone who stated on the page prior that hope is a fallacy and that the life instinct is futile has no right to suddenly go all lofty and poetic on me. But he does... he really does... in the sentence that kills it for me...
"Great feelings take with them their own universe, splendid or abject. They light up within their passion an exclusive world in which they recognize their climate."
I reply: All of a sudden Camus is channeling William Blake and I have no idea wtf he means. Great feelings are effulgent stars. They glisten candidly in the souls' bearing until only their own flight is high enough a pursuit. I just made that up. It's bullshit (maybe absurd?) Like this book.
I do ultimately have the freedom to assign meaning subjectively, after all.

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Feb 19, 2009

Michael rated it

In one way, at least, "The Myth of Sisyphys" is not an honest inquiry into the question of meaning. Camus dismisses, a priori, any possible supernatural source of meaning, which leaves him with only absurdity. But then he despairs because of the meaningless and absurdity of life. Well, what did he expect? Inasmuch as an absurdist essay can be said to be internally consistent, "Sisyphus" succeeds. Camus himself, however, concedes that absurdity ultimately results in chaos...moreIn one way, at least, "The Myth of Sisyphys" is not an honest inquiry into the question of meaning. Camus dismisses, a priori, any possible supernatural source of meaning, which leaves him with only absurdity. But then he despairs because of the meaningless and absurdity of life. Well, what did he expect? Inasmuch as an absurdist essay can be said to be internally consistent, "Sisyphus" succeeds. Camus himself, however, concedes that absurdity ultimately results in chaos and that his very argument must collapse in on itself. He stops short of admitting that there is no reason to accept his conclusions, but that is the logical end of his thought (yes, he uses logic in spite of the fact that he undermines reason, and he acknowledges that absurdity).

Before I go further, I must make it clear that his reasons for dismissing supernatural meaning are well founded. His critique of Christianity in particular as he understood it are dead on. In his research into Christianity, Camus discovered a requirement that those who enter the church must sacrifice the intellect. Further, he discovered in Kierkegaard not only this sacrifice, but a requirement that faith requires an irrational leap into the void. Camus was fiercely intelligent, and rejected any claim that was internally contradictory. As such, Camus rightly rejects both requirements. Oddly enough, in this respect, Camus is in complete agreement with the Bible, for both requirements are antithetical to Holy Scriptures of Christianity, the Bible.

Over and over again in the Christian Bible, God pleads with people to reason with Him. The faith of Abraham, the crux of Kierkegaard's leap, was not an irrational leap, but was based on propositional truth. Sadly, Camus' critique never went as far as comparing the claims of Ignatius and Kierkegaard to Scripture, leaving him with nothing but absurdity.

Another problem in Camus' thought as expressed in "Sisyphus" is that he claims to have made no assumptions and worked with only that which is concrete. For the most part, I must agree with him. However, he makes one critical assumption that is not based on anything concrete, and it undermines most of his argument. He assumes intelligence and the mind, neither of which are concrete, both of which are abstract concepts. There are those today who question whether such things as mind or intellect exist. If mind and intellect are indeed assumed, Camus' argument for the nobility of the absurd collapses, as it is built on lucid thought and intellect. Nothing, not even absurdity, is left to Camus now.

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Oct 18, 2010

Eric rated it

Life is absurd - that is the fundamental premise of this book. We live constantly for the uncertain future while always trying to ignore the fact that we are inevitably approaching our death, the time of which is equally uncertain. Throughout the course of human history we've developed devices like language, culture and abstractions like "the future", "love", "hope" and "reason" which in our modern lives serve to shield us from the absurd and give us a fee...more

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Aug 08, 2011

1.1 rated it

Beyond merely rewarding the reader this book is filled with piquant quotes you can throw around or think about, such as:

"Without culture, and the relative freedom it implies, society, even when perfect, is but a jungle. This is why any authentic creation is a gift to the future." (The Artist and His Time)

or consider:

"The most exemplary life and thought of those centuries close on a proud confession of ignorance. Forgetting that, we have forgotten our...more

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Mar 10, 2011

uh8myzen rated it

Shelves: philosophy, non-fiction, books-that-changed-my-life, my-favourites

Camus is first and foremost a writer, which makes all of his work, fiction and otherwise, extremely accessible. The Myth of Sisyphus is a perfect example of this. For me, it is also, by far and away, one of the cleanest and most down to earth descriptions of French existentialist philosophy available. It gets right down to the point of it all.

How do you define your existence and purpose in a world without Gods or eternal truth?

Why should you go on if there is no tra...more

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Jan 01, 2012

Kunal rated it

Yes, this author is amazing...not in the sense that he is better than anyone ever read.....he's "different"...my first brush with absurdism......essays by Camus have gripped me hard and i struggled hard to break free......each line is like a quote, every page a book.....and at one point I got so overwhelmed that i threw the book on the wall .................That.........had never happened before !!

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Aug 01, 2009

Robert Cooper rated it

This is one of the most influential books of the twentieth century. In it Albert Camus, one of the two (with Jean-Paul Sartre) leading “French existentialists,” faces the problem of suicide: an act that seems to make philosophical sense in a world in which one is born accidentally and suffers and dies to no apparent purpose. Camus: “The subject of this essay is precisely the relationship between the absurd and suicide, the exact degree to which suicide is a solution to the absurd.” Keep in ...more This is one of the most influential books of the twentieth century. In it Albert Camus, one of the two (with Jean-Paul Sartre) leading “French existentialists,” faces the problem of suicide: an act that seems to make philosophical sense in a world in which one is born accidentally and suffers and dies to no apparent purpose. Camus: “The subject of this essay is precisely the relationship between the absurd and suicide, the exact degree to which suicide is a solution to the absurd.” Keep in mind that Camus lived through and was shaped by the horrors of World War II, in which he participated by moving from his native Algeria to France and editing Combat, a newspaper of the Resistance. He had no use for philosophical flapdoodle from the ivory tower: he was interested in gut issues that affect the lives of real people. That is why he became so popular worldwide.
The title of this book comes from a Greek myth: as a punishment for angering the gods, poor Sisyphus was doomed endlessly to roll a heavy boulder to the top of a mountain, only to have it roll back from the summit to the base, where he had to start all over again—repeating this process through all eternity. Camus: “…Sisyphus is the absurd hero. He is, as much through his passions as through his torture. His scorn of the gods, his hatred of death, and his passion for life won him that unspeakable penalty in which the whole being is exerted toward accomplishing nothing. This is the price that must be paid for the passions of this earth.”
Here’s Camus’ philosophy in a nutshell: Man is born into a universe that he can never fully understand: the finite cannot comprehend the infinite. Perhaps there is some higher (religious) meaning to life, but man cannot know what it is. He knows only that he has been born to die and that there is no plausible evidence for an afterlife. He therefore finds himself in an absurd position: nothing he does in this life can prevent his annihilation at the end of it. Hard work, achievement, fame, glory—in the end, all for naught. Meaningless. Given this, should he commit suicide now and get it over with—end the farce? Camus says no. On the contrary: rejoice that life has no meaning because this sets you free to fully enjoy it. Your body wants pleasure and your mind seeks beauty, and the universe (though incomprehensible) furnishes you with plenty of both. Take what it gives you, he says, enjoy yourself day by day, and pride yourself that in spite of knowing the inevitability of your own death you have the guts to stand up and defy the universe by seizing life’s joys while you live. To be an authentic human being means to remain fully conscious of your inevitable death at all times and to fight off the illusory hopes that the culture keeps throwing at you—all of which represent desperate evasions by people too cowardly to accept the terrifying truth.
Camus speaks:

A world that can be explained even with bad reasons is a familiar world. But, on the other hand, in a universe suddenly divested of illusions and lights, man feels an alien, a stranger. His exile is without remedy since he is deprived of the memory of a lost home or the hope of a promised land. This divorce between man and his life, the actor and his setting, is properly the feeling of absurdity. All healthy men having thought of their own suicide, it can be seen, without further explanation, that there is a direct connection between this feeling and the longing for death.

Eluding is the invariable game. The typical act of eluding, the fatal evasion that constitutes the third theme of this essay, is hope. Hope of another life one must ‘deserve’ or trickery of those who live not for life itself but for some great idea that will transcend it, refine it, give it meaning, and betray it.

Tenacity and acumen are privileged spectators of this inhuman show in which absurdity, hope, and death carry on their dialogue. The mind can then analyze the figures of that elementary and yet subtle dance before illustrating them and reliving them itself.

What I know, what is certain, what I cannot deny, what I cannot reject—this is what counts. I can negate everything of that part of me that lives on vague nostalgias, except this desire for unity, this longing to solve, this need for clarity and cohesion…. I don’t know whether this world has a meaning that transcends it. But I do know that I do not know that meaning and that it is impossible for me just now to know it. What can a meaning outside my condition mean to me? I can understand only in human terms.”

It was previously a question of finding out whether or not life had to have a meaning to be lived. It now becomes clear, on the contrary, that it will be lived all the better if it has no meaning. Living an experience, a particular fate, is accepting it fully. Now, no one will live his fate, knowing it to be absurd, unless he does everything to keep before him that absurd brought to light by consciousness.

The absurd man thus catches sight of a burning and frigid, transparent and limited universe in which nothing is possible but everything is given, and beyond which all is collapse and nothingness. He can then decide to accept such a universe and draw from it his strength, his refusal to hope, and the unyielding evidence of a life without consolation.

Being aware of one’s life, one’s revolt, one’s freedom, and to the maximum, is living, and to the maximum.

What, in fact, is the absurd man? He who, without negating it, does nothing for the eternal. Not that nostalgia is foreign to him. But he prefers his courage and his reasoning. The first teaches him to live without appeal and to get along with what he has; the second informs him of his limits. Assured of his temporally limited freedom, of his revolt devoid of future, and of his mortal consciousness, he lives out his adventure within the span of his lifetime. That is his field, that is his action, which he shields from any judgment but his own.

If [the myth of Sisyphus:] is tragic, that is because its hero is conscious. Where would his torture be, indeed, if at every step the hope of succeeding upheld him? The workman of today works every day in his life at the same tasks, and this fate is no less absurd. But it is tragic only at the rare moments when it becomes conscious. Sisyphus, proletarian of the gods, powerless and rebellious, knows the whole extent of his wretched condition: it is what he thinks of during his descent. The lucidity that was to constitute his torture at the same time crowns his victory. There is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn.
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Jul 24, 2011

Dylan Popowicz rated it

A beautiful collection of thought. Camus' talent lay in writing with such a gentle and reasonable air that his arguments do not fall as pieces in battle but as simple and humble thoughts. As Socrates claims his ignorance, Camus writes his ignorance--but don't misread this, what he has to say is of a higher potency and idea than of those who claim Truth, Realism and Positivity.

The Myth of Sispyphus is the core of Absurd thought, and, at least for myself, acts as a solid and well-established acco...more

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Nov 22, 2010

K rated it

Shelves: essaysandargument

Only read The Myth of Sisyphus, not the "other essays." Sisyphus certainly starts off with a bang -- got goosebumps at the first sentence: "There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide." Camus begins with the assumption that everything we do is bottom line pointless and that there is a horrible absurd disjunct between our hope for a unified, rational existence and what is in fact the case. Once we realize this truth, we have various options, such a...more

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May 13, 2010

Lisa rated it

Camus is talking about the absurdity of life. He starts from a point of accepting that there is no God; and, as follows, that there is no meaning to life. The question of the book is, accepting these things, should we commit suicide? Is suicide the only rational solution to absurdity?

I think we are inclined, if we fully admit the premises of the argument, to believe that it is. The metaphor the title and closing passage make clear is that we are Sisphyus. We push the boulder up...more

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Aug 27, 2009

White rated it

This was a required college read. Specifically, the Myth of Sisyphus is a commentary on life and I have to admit that I have thought about it constantly throughout my adult life as I add experience with aging and frustration. Much of this connection I get with the Myth is due to an almost unrealistic high expectation of myself and others. However, as I add up the grand total of what I am and what others have achieved who I have influenced, I think I can say that it's been worth the attitude. ...more

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Jun 23, 2009

Mrs_M rated it

This was a required college read. Specifically, the Myth of Sisyphus is a commentary on life and I have to admit that I have thought about it constantly throughout my adult life as I add experience with aging and frustration. Much of this connection I get with the Myth is due to an almost unrealistic high expectation of myself and others. However, as I add up the grand total of what I am and what others have achieved who I have influenced, I think I can say that it's been worth the attitude. ...more

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Aug 03, 2008

Tim rated it

Life-changing, at least if you're reading it the summer before sophomore year of college and in the midst of seriously thinking about death for the first time in your life. And me.

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Jun 29, 2009

J. Dunn rated it

Shelves: nonfiction, essays, 20th-century, french, translations, existentialism, philosophy, absurdity, litcrit, literature, epistemology, humanism, owned, favorite, have-etext

This might be the best and most compelling pure read of any philosophical tome I've picked up. He manages to fit as much heavy lifting into 100-odd pages as people like Heidegger do in 800. Obviously he's less technical, but he's still grappling with pretty knotty stuff here. This is a sort of worst-case-scenario philosophy... he starts with the Absurd(the lack of external, eternal meaning to existence, coupled with the insatiable human desire for exactly that) and tries(and mostly succeeds) at ...more

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Aug 14, 2011

Shelley rated it

I initially read this book as a freshman in college and had a difficult time getting through it. I don't think at age 18 I was capable of fully grasping existentialism and Camus' writings on the absurdity of man and of life. Now at 32, It was still a challenging read at times, but I was able to come at it from an entirely different perspective after living so much more life.

I do recommend everyone read this at some point in life and glean from it what you can. I could write a revie...more

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Apr 04, 2011

Jack Coleman rated it

Once again I recall the words of Irving Layton: "The sensitive write,the insensitive rule".
A handbook for the absurdity of our existance.

Death W.B. Yeats
Nor dread nor hope attend
A dying animal;
A man waits his end
Dreading and hoping all;
Many times he died,
Many times he rose again,
A great man in his pride
Confronting murderous men
Cast derision upon
Suppression of breath;
He knows de...more

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