Camus debates various responses to the “absurd” before deciding that all are inadequate and that, ultimately, the only response is to accept meaninglessness as part of life and to simply live “as much” as possible.Ĭamus believes that the absurd is often suppressed by habit.

He characterizes this as “the absence of any profound reason for living, the insane character of that daily agitation and the uselessness of suffering.” For Camus, figuring out whether it’s possible to live with full knowledge of life’s absence of meaning is the most important philosophical question of all (or if suicide is the only viable option). Camus specifically defines absurdism as the confrontation between two key elements: on the one hand, there is humankind’s “wild longing for clarity,” meaning, and “order.” On the other hand, people find nothing in the world that gives evidence of answering this search for meaning-life’s biggest questions are answered only by the “unreasonable silence of the world.” From the beginning of the book, Camus suggests that the fact of death robs life of meaning. If you enjoyed The Myth of Sisyphus, you might like Camus' The Outsider, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.Absurdism is often mischaracterized as solely the idea that life is inherently meaningless-and while that is undoubtedly an important aspect of absurdism, it isn’t the whole story. Awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957, Camus is remembered as one of the few writers to have shaped the intellectual climate of post-war France, but beyond that, his fame has been international. They include The Fall, The Outsider and The First Man. This volume contains several other essays, including lyrical evocations of the sunlit cities of Algiers and Oran, the settings of his great novels The Outsider and The Plague.Īlbert Camus (1913-60) is the author of a number of best-selling and highly influential works, all of which are published by Penguin. Written during the bleakest days of the Second World War, The Myth of Sisyphus ( Le Mythe de Sisyphe) argues for an acceptance of reality that encompasses revolt, passion and, above all, liberty.

This is our 'absurd' task, like Sisyphus forever rolling his rock up a hill, as the inevitability of death constantly overshadows us. In this profound and moving philosophical statement, Camus poses the fundamental question: is life worth living? If human existence holds no significance, what can keep us from suicide? As Camus argues, if there is no God to give meaning to our lives, humans must take on that purpose themselves. The summation of the existentialist philosophy threaded throughout all his writing, Albert Camus' The Myth of Sisyphus is translated by Justin O'Brien with an introduction by James Wood in Penguin Classics.

The myth of sisyphus by albert camus