One of the greatest opening lines of all time:

"There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy. All the rest – whether or not the world has three dimensions, whether the mind has nine or twelve categories – comes afterwards. These are games; one must first answer."

- Albert Camus




To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The s More...

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 suicide in a me More...

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 void. Beginning as a r More...

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 say I reall More...

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 fascinating review of exist More...

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 and when they More...

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

ada yang saya sukai dari buku ini tersebar di beberapa topik don yuanisme, penaklukan, kirilov, dan sandiwara. namun yang akan saya kutip satu saja.

"selalu tiba saatnya kita harus memilih antara renungan dan tindakan. begitulah hakikatnya menjadi manusia. kepedihan2 itu mengerikan. namun untuk hati yg memiliki kebanggaan, disitu tidak mungkin ada pilihan tengah. ada tuhan atau waktu, salib atau pedang. dunia ini mempunyai arti yg lebih tinggi yg melampaui segala hiruk pikuknya atau tidak ada sua More...

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 and S More...

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A brilliant collection of essays concerning the aspect of Absurd-ism and its manifestations in art and literature, Portrayals of affection for summer cities, notes on the western civilization's spirit then and a short interview with Camus himself in which he discusses the artist's roles in shaping the events of his time.
Perfect book for anyone interested in existentialism and absurd-ism philosophies, Would be good casual read for anyone except for the firs 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 opt More...

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...

"The only serious philosophical problem is that of suicide. Everything else (whether the mind has 2 or 16 dimensions, whether the red I see is the red you see etc) are merely games."
This is the starting-point for Camus' exploration ; life is absurd. It is absurd because human beings have search for reason, unity and meaning in a universe that has essentially none. Now that the absurd has been exposed, is life worth living?
It is a fascinating and fundamental query that in the hands of a better More...

The title essay, The Myth of Sisyphus, is a work that Camus wrote relatively early in his career on the subject of suicide. While that subject interests me not at all, I found myself drawn in by his content and his style. He points out the absurdity in human life in many different ways through the essay and yet does not take up some hopeless nihilism or adopt some ridiculous deterministic scheme of the universe. His thoughts of the nature of absurdity and the absurd man are things that I can rel More...

افسانه سیزیف :MYthe de sisyphe
آلبر کامو
مترجم: دکتر محمود سلطانیه
"...من سیزیف را پای کوه رها می کنم! بار سنگین او همواره در دسترس است. سیزیف وفادارانه در برابر خدایان می ایستد و تخته سنگ ها را از جای بر می کند. او نیز همه چیز را نیک می داند و دنیا را دیگر نه سترون می بیند و نه بیهوده. هر ریزه ای از آن سنگ و هر پرتوی از دل کوهساران همیشه شب برای او دنیایی می شود. مبارزه برای رسیدن به ستیغ گامی است تا دل آدمی را سرشار کند. باید سیزیف را نیکبخت انگاشت." --- (جملات پایانی کتاب)
از پیشگفتار(دکتر حامد ف More...

Much is made of the simplicity with which Camus wrote - so much so that scores of American teens read L'Étranger in its original tongue. I have no qualms with this, wish I'd done it myself; however, as with Hemingway (an otherwise wholly inaccurate comparison, in my mind), such simplicity of style is often hard to measure in full. In Camus’s specific case, it would be easy to drift through the poetics of his style and lose the full force of his elegant and active intelligence. Camus, unlike Hemi More...

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, of cours More...

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...

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 for More...

Instead of being crushed by a vast, difficult to comprehend, cosmos the absurd man soldiers on. He doesn't curl up, go on food stamps, or complain about lurid Koch brother conspiracies. He gives a middle finger to his fate and then does what he can. Up yours universe: this is Camus’s revolt and, in our time, it’s a universal sentiment. This part of being absurd is easily faked; every brain-dead rapper and air-headed celebrity sports up-yours-airs, but absurd men do not play at revolt! They do th More...

The Myth of Sisyphus is a philosophical essay written by Albert Camus, it is a nice book to read for those who like to read more about Existensialims. Most of the scholars have said that Albert Camus is an Existensialist but he has denied this labelling of being Existensialms.

The Myth of Sisyphus can be categorised into three categories. In first part, he illustrates the concept of absurdity profoundly to the depth of abyss. In this part, Camus says that absurdity is no where, neither in the hu More...

I just drank two glasses of wine, but believe me I will be back to review this in a serious way. For the moment I would like to say, in buzzing incredulity: who were my mentors, teachers, guardians, caregivers that they didn't introduce this book to me at least ten years ago? This is the most important religious book I have ever read, if you know what I mean. For a minute reads like a whodunnit, a page-turner: should we kill ourselves or NOT, Camus?? There are some weak parts.

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 and that his very argume More...

Okay: I'm not satisfied with The Myth of Sisyphus. I'm equally unsatisfied with my reasons, my critique, and my feelings with regard to The Myth of Sisyphus. Both the text and my reservations to it seem equally unconvincing.

Sometimes, The Myth of Sisyphus feels like this: Camus lists a set of rules for what absurdism means. Then he explains what counts under that definition (actors and conquerors), then what doesn't count after that definition (Dostoevsky, Kafka). Camus sets up a convoluted syst More...

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 feeling of control - or to put it as Camus More...

I am going to divide my review into two parts. In the first part, I will give an all too brief outline of Albert Camus' philosophy along with my opinion and thoughts on the essay entitled The Myth of Sisyphus. I will not include the section titled The Myth of Sisyphus or the Appendix in my review. The second part will be an expansion of the outline and will be contained in a spoiler section. It will be based on what I gathered to be Camus' main points in each of the three sections of his essay.

I More...

After reading a section of the The Myth of Sisyphus in my high school english class as a precursor to The Stranger, I simply had no choice but to pick this book up at the local store out of sheer curiosity. Much to my surprise (it really should not have been) I found a wonderfully probing narrative of our humanity all swirling around the relationship of the "absurd" and mankind. Each sentence and even phrase brought along the potential to create entirely new trains of thought and seeming aversio More...

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 virility. We have preferred the power that a More...

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 transcendent purpose or divine More...