The essay Le Mythe de Sisyphe (The Myth of Sisyphus), 1942, expounds Camus's notion of the absurd and of its acceptance with "the total absence of hope, which has nothing to do with despair, a continual refusal, which must not be confused with renouncement - and a conscious dissatisfaction". His love for the theatre may be traced back to his membership in L'Equipe, an Algerian theatre group, whose "collective creation" Révolte dans les Asturies (1934) was banned for political reasons. He also adapted plays by Calderon, Lope de Vega, Dino Buzzati, and Faulkner's Requiem for a Nun. But his journalistic activities had been chiefly a response to the demands of the time in 1947 Camus retired from political journalism and, besides writing his fiction and essays, was very active in the theatre as producer and playwright (e.g., Caligula, 1944).
The man and the times met: Camus joined the resistance movement during the occupation and after the liberation was a columnist for the newspaper Combat. Of semi-proletarian parents, early attached to intellectual circles of strongly revolutionary tendencies, with a deep interest in philosophy (only chance prevented him from pursuing a university career in that field), he came to France at the age of twenty-five. His origin in Algeria and his experiences there in the thirties were dominating influences in his thought and work. The work should be seen in relation to other works by Camus: the novel The Stranger ('42), the play Caligula ('45), & especially the essay The Rebel ('51) which was completed prior to his death in '60 in a car accident.Īlbert Camus (1913-1960) was a representative of non-metropolitan French literature. The essay concludes, "The struggle itself.is enough to fill a man's heart. The final chapter compares the absurdity of life with the situation of Sisyphus, a figure of Greek mythology who was condemned to repeat forever the same meaningless task of pushing a rock up a mountain, only to see it roll down again. It requires revolt." He then outlines several approaches to the absurd life. Does the realization of the absurd require suicide? He answers: "No. In the essay, Camus introduces his philosophy of the absurd: our futile search for meaning, unity & clarity in the face of an unintelligible world devoid of god & eternity. An English translation by Justin O'Brien followed in '55.
It comprises about 120 pages & was published originally in '42 in French as Le Mythe de Sisyphe. The Myth of Sisyphus is a philosophical essay by Albert Camus.
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