The Myth of Sisyphus (SparkNotes Philosophy Guide) Making the reading experience fun! SparkNotes Philosophy Guides are one-stop guides to the great works of philosophy–masterpieces that stand at the foundations of Western thought. Inside each Philosophy Guide you'll find insightful overviews of great philosophical works of the Western world. 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. This Is Our 'absurd' Task, Like Sisyphus Forever Rolling His Rock Up A Hill, As The Inevitability Of Death Constantly Overshadows Us. Written During The Bleakest Days Of The Second World War, The Myth Of Sisyphus Argues For An Acceptance Of Reality That Encompasses Revolt, Passion And, Above All, Liberty. 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. Albert Camus Is The Author Of A Number Of Best-selling And Highly Influential Works, All Of Which Are Published By Penguin. They Include The Fall, The Outsider And The First Man. He 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. Translated By Justin O'brien With An Introduction By James Wood In this profound and moving philosophical statement, Camus poses the fundamental question: If human existence has no meaning, is life worth living? 'What I touch, what resists me - that is what I understand' As Camus argues, if there is no God to give meaning to our lives, humans must take on that purpose themselves. This is our 'absurd' task, like Sisyphus condemned forever to roll a rock up a hill. Written during the bleakest days of the Second World War, The Myth of Sisyphus argues for an acceptance of reality that encompasses revolt, passion and, above all, liberty, gained through an awareness of pure existence. 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 . The writings in this volume are all, in their own way, hymns to the physical world and the elemental pleasures of living. Translated by Justin O'Brien With an afterword by James Wood «Il n'y a qu'un problème philosophique vraiment sérieux : c'est le suicide.» Avec cette formule foudroyante, qui semble rayer d'un trait toute la philosophie, un jeune homme de moins de trente ans commence son analyse de la sensibilité absurde. Il décrit le «mal de l'esprit» dont souffre l'époque actuelle : «L'absurde naît de la confrontation de l'appel humain avec le silence déraisonnable du monde.» THERE is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide.
