Skip to main content

Albert Camus: The Myth of Sisyphus _Pt. 1

Quotes and remarks while reading from the translation by James Wood (Penguin)

[Intro]

"...religion is all hypocrisy and nonsense."

Grand Inquisitor section of The Brothers Karamazov

"Camus cannot know that God does not exist;...Camus proposes awareness itself."

"...oppose the world's meaninglessness with our revolt, our freedom, and our passion."

One of the most poignant observations by Mr Wood: "Aware that life is futile, Camus feels himself a stranger to it." A certain callback to The Stranger, methinks.

He reproduces the part about the banality of routine (pg. 19), and notes that both Henri Bergson and Camus jeered modern industrial society. He ends the para with "...life is a comic dumb-show."

The titular myth is of course the drudgery of futile labor that Sisyphus is cursed with, rolling a boulder up a hill only to have it roll back down, for eternity. Eternity, of course is the life span of humans - there is no other experience to look forward to once we die.

"...and what is Sisypheanism but a furious metaphor?"


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Quotes

I don't think of the past. The only thing that matters is the everlasting present. W. Somerset Maugham Ralph Waldo Emerson - "To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment."

A Cascade of Conversations.

It is a convenience to not have to type a datestamp, so I waste a line on it. The conversation I had with Mr. Malik was hurried; if its depth were to be mapped by sonar, it would be very irregular. The air time was pretty evenly divided, I think, although I know my egotistical thought process gives me way more credit than I'm due for. Still, no, wait, not still, I also committed a grave error of leaving out a person from my life history, despite saying in the same conversation, at a different point of time, words to the effect that a nurtured grievance tends to intensify negatively over time. I hope I have not slipped up too badly. Mahak pressed the red button when I called right now. With Mum, I knew in my heart she knew I was going to be serious about Mahak. Hence, at an opportunistic moment was exploited to full advantage, meaning no negativity whatsoever, and Mum accepted the news with good humor; I think her apprehensions are going to wait till December. Now, I have two things...

Money

By Pink Floyd Excellent song. The lyrics pertain to (most probably) the group's experience itself. As such, it is funny and humorous, poking fun at the system of media barons and "chart" economics.  I relate to it even more these days, when all I need is money. I am at peace, content, moksha-esque, even - but I do need money for subsistence. Which reminds me , how do I monetize my writings? Time to fire up the Vaio.