The Myth of Sisyphus

Description

One of the most influential works of this century, The Myth of Sisyphus — is a crucial exposition of existentialist thought.

Influenced by works such as Don Juan and the novels of Kafka, these essays begin with a meditation on suicide—the question of living or not living in a universe devoid of order or meaning. With lyric eloquence, Albert Camus brilliantly posits a way out of despair, reaffirming the value of personal existence, and the possibility of life lived with dignity and authenticity.

Drawing upon the character of Sisyphus from the Greek Mythology, Camus beautifully constructs his theory of absurd , one of the greatest works of Existentialism. Sisyphus was condemned by gods to eternally push a boulder atop a mountain and subsequently see it roll down to its base. Camus uses the analogy to explain the absurdity of human existence in the universe. He also wrote fiction, plays and essays to expound the idea but The Myth of Sisyphus remains the crux of his philosophy.

Author Biography

Born in Algeria in 1913, Albert Camus published The Stranger–now one of the most widely read novels of this century–in 1942. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1957. On January 4, 1960, he was killed in a car accident. Laura Marris is a writer and translator. Her book-length translations include Louis Guilloux’s novel Blood Dark, which was short-listed for the 2018 Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize. Her translation of Jean-Yves Frétigné’s biography of Gramsci is forthcoming from the University of Chicago Press in 2021. She teaches creative writing at the University at Buffalo.